New Delhi, March 12
After marathon meetings through the day to choose the best candidates for upcoming elections, the Congress' Central Election Committee (CEC) was unable to arrive at a final list till late tonight.

Sources in the party told The Tribune that the CEC had asked for the list of the so-called tainted candidates in the fray separately to take a call on their future.

On the list, which is said to have been discussed at the CEC meeting attended by top Congress strategists, including Sonia, her son and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Sonia's political secretary Ahmed Patel, are the names of sitting Pune MP Suresh Kalmadi; sitting Chandigarh MP and former Railway Minister Pawan Bansal; former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan; and former minister and sitting Ranchi MP Subodh Kant Sahay.

"The CEC has drafted the list of controversial candidates separately and each name will be debated on a case-to-case basis. The draft contains the details of cases involving the said MPs and their current legal and judicial status," Congress sources said adding that Rahul Gandhi had been pushing for fielding "absolutely clean candidates with not even a blemish of taint".

While the dilemma of the CEC on fielding the aforesaid candidates continued, the party, outside the poll panel deliberations, backed Pawan Bansal on official level dissociating him from the rest of the "tainted contestants".

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said: "It is unfair to call Pawan Bansal tainted. Can everyone be punished for the wrongdoing of their nephew? Bansal resigned taking a moral high ground although his candidature will be decided by the party high command which will take a view on these controversial cases individually." The Tribune was the first to report yesterday that the Congress was debating the definition of the word "tainted" to proceed in the case of the candidates under question. Surjewala today said: "Constitutionally and legally unless a person is convicted by the court he cannot be ineligible as a candidate but a decision on who is to be fielded from where will be taken by the leadership." By Congress' official standards, only Suresh Kalmadi legally stands included in the "tainted" list considering the CBI court has framed charges against him in a CWG graft case.

Ashok Chavan's name is not currently in any charge-sheet though a court recently rejected the CBI plea to drop Chavan's name from the charge sheet. Also, there are no criminal charges standing against Sahay and least of all against Bansal, who does not figure anywhere in the case charge-sheet of the cash for railway job scam in which a court day before framed charges against his nephew.

Congress sources said the party's central poll panel discussed the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, the lone seat from Himachal which the Congress holds, and approved the candidature of Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh's wife and sitting MP Pratibha Singh from there. The announcement is yet to be made.

Congress sources said Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar has communicated to the party high command privately that he may either contest Lok Sabha elections or do party work considering he was only recently appointed the state chief. He has told leaders that he wanted to fight from Sirsa reserved seat.