M A I N   N E W S

Cong finalises 100 more names

New Delhi, March 14
The Congress said today that it had finalised the names of candidates for the Lok Sabha poll in Punjab, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, totalling around 100 seats.

The Central Election Committee, which met here last night, had concluded its deliberations on the nomination of candidates for Punjab, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, party spokesman Kapil Sibal told reporters here.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi was now having discussions with the general secretaries of the states concerned on the selection of candidates, Mr Sibal said.

The CEC would announce the names of candidates for Uttaranchal, Orissa, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Kerala shortly, he said.

The party, which has already announced its first list of 75 candidates for 21 states, is expected to release the second list of over 100 candidates on March 16, party sources said.

In Maharashtra, the names of CWC member Mukul Wasnik (Buldhana), Gurudas Kamat (Mumbai north-east) and Suresh Kalmadi (Pune) are understood to have been cleared.

It is still not clear whether film star Govinda, Maharashtra PCC chief Ranjit Deshmukh, former naval chief Vishnu Bhagwat and former Mumbai Police Commissioner M.N. Singh will be Congress candidates in Mumbai.

From the Dausa Lok Sabha seat, Sachin Pilot is likely to be fielded in place of his mother, Rama Pilot, who is understood to have expressed her desire to opt out.

Replying to a question on the refusal of both Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party to have a tie-up with the Congress party, Mr Sibal said his party had taken an initiative to unite all secular parties on a single platform.

“If they do not respond the people will decide who is secular and who is not,” Mr Sibal said repeatedly to a volley of questions.

He said the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party were yet to declare their lists of candidates as they were scared. — PTI 

Cong finalises 3 candidates for HP
Prashant Sood
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 14
Even as it has finalised candidates for three of the four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal Pradesh, the Congress central leadership is still weighing its options for Mandi, where the Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) can support the party.

Sources said the Congress central election committee yesterday discussed and cleared names of three ministers and a member of the outgoing Lok Sabha for the four parliamentary seats in Himachal Pradesh.

With the state election committee having made a unanimous choice for the four seats in the state, the CEC cleared the names of Forest Minister Chander Kumar from Kangra, Industry Minister Ram Lal Thakur from Hamirpur, IPH Minister Kaul Singh from Mandi and Mr Dhani Ram Shandil from Shimla. Mr Shandil had recently quit the HVC to join the Congress.

However, with Mr Kaul Singh showing reluctance to contest and the name of Ms Pratibha Singh, wife of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, coming up as the “strongest candidate” from the seat, the party is still weighing options.

The Congress is likely to declare the Lok Sabha candidates from Himachal Pradesh this week. The HVC is also looking at the option of contesting the Mandi seat on its own. The party has called a meeting of its office-bearers on March 17 to decide about its future course of action.