Congress may finalise first list of candidates Wednesday in India

The Congress is likely to finalise on Wednesday its first list of candidates for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, with the party’s central election committee (CEC) set to discuss probable candidates in three states of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh, a party functionary familiar with the development said.

The three states account for 130 of 543 seats in the Lok Sabha — Uttar Pradesh 80 (highest), Maharashtra 48 (second-highest) and Arunachal Pradesh two. The Congress has decided to contest the Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Maharashtra in an alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar.

As a result, CEC will only discuss the names for seats to be contested by candidates from the Congress.

In Uttar Pradesh, CEC will primarily focus on the seats in the eastern part of the state, the charge of which is held by Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

The 13-member CEC, headed by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, is a key party panel that clears names of contestants. It is likely to be reconstituted in the run up to the elections.

Source: hindustantimes