Lok Sabha polls: Congress chief Kharge-led CEC to finalise candidates for Punjab, Haryana, Bihar and Delhi on Saturday

New Delhi, April 12

Top Congress leaders will discuss and decide on the party candidates from Punjab, Haryana, Bihar and Delhi at a meeting of the Central Election Committee to be held on Saturday evening.

The Central Election Committee chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge is likely to meet at 4 pm on Saturday.

Sources said the meeting will discuss the candidates and decide on them soon after the screening committees of Punjab, Haryana and Bihar held separate meetings and recommended the list of candidates for the states for the Lok Sabha polls.

AICC in-charge for Haryana and Delhi, Deepak Babaria, said after the screening committee for Haryana that their discussions are over and the candidates on all nine Lok Sabha seats were discussed.

He said the list of recommended candidates will be sent to the central election committee (CEC) now and the candidates will be made public by tomorrow. He added that on the majority seats, single names of candidates have been recommended.

Babaria said while the name of Kumari Selja is there for consideration, former chief minister Bhupendra Singh Hooda will not contest the Lok Sabha polls and will lead the party in the state. However, his son Deepinder Singh Hooda will contest.

“It will be a balanced list, which will represent all sections including women and youth. As the Congress party works with inclusiveness, the party’s list will be all inclusive and we feel that we will win all the 10 seats,” he told reporters after the meeting.

“The proposed list recommended by the screening committee has been prepared with single names and in all probability all the seats will be taken up before the central election committee which will meet on Saturday evening,” he said.