New Delhi

Congress screening committee meets

NEW DELHI: The Screening Committee constituted by Congress president Sonia Gandhi under the chairmanship of party general secretary Mohsina Kidwai to finalise the list of candidates for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections began its first meeting here on Tuesday. Sources in the party said the panel, which also comprises party general secretaries Jagmeet Brar and B. K. Hariprasad along with general secretary in-charge of Delhi affairs Ashok Gehlot, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president J. P. Agarwal, discussed the names for various constituencies threadbare.

The meeting began at 1 p.m. and continued for several hours. During the deliberations, Mr. Agarwal also submitted before the panel sealed envelopes containing the names of the shortlisted candidates for the various Delhi Assembly segments that had been finalised by the panel of 36 observers appointed by the DPCC for the purpose. Another list of names forwarded by a panel of AICC observers comprising Harkesh Bahadur, Harish Rawat, Chandresh Kumari and Ram Prakash was also placed before the meeting.

While the Screening Committee is also scheduled to meet on Wednesday for further discussions, sources said more meetings thereafter cannot be ruled out in view of the seriousness of the issue at hand.

In arriving at the best set of candidates for the elections, the Screening Committee would also be keeping in mind the interests of various senior leaders including Ms. Dikshit, Mr. Agarwal and the six Lok Sabha members from Delhi.

The Chief Minister is of the opinion that while the candidates supported by all these Delhi leaders should be accommodated, the leaders of other States should not be allowed to have much of a say in the selection of candidates. As the elections are being fought on the main plank of 10 years of her government, Ms. Dikshit is also of the view that there is a need to change about 40 per cent of the sitting MLAs if the party were to have a good chance of winning the Delhi Assembly elections for the record third consecutive time.

For his part, Mr. Agarwal, who has worked sincerely at the grassroots level since taking over as DPCC president in mid-2007, is of the opinion that the DPCC office-bearers and Congress councillors who have a strong chance of winning should also be considered for the tickets.

Sources in the party said the list of names to be forwarded to the Central Election Committee by the Screening Committee is likely to be a mix of single, double and multiple names for various constituencies.

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