Sonia Gandhi headed Congress panel holds discussions on 70 Punjab seats

New Delhi, January 13

The Congress president Sonia Gandhi-led central election committee (CEC) held a virtual meeting late Thursday evening and discussed 70 seats for the February 14 Punjab elections.

Names cleared

Party’s poll posters to carry pictures of Chief Minister CS Channi, Pradesh Congress chief Navjot Sidhu and former PCC president Sunil Jakhar for ‘inclusivity’

Sources said Manmohan Singh could not attend the meeting because of frail health. The first list of candidates is expected on Friday.

There was lack of consensus on about five seats on which Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi had additional inputs. The CEC decided to ask the Punjab screening committee led by AICC general secretary Ajay Maken to review these seats on Friday morning and suggest potential candidates to the party high command.

The candidature of actor Sonu Sood’s sister Malvika Sood from Moga and Sidhu Moosewala from Mansa was discussed. There was near unanimty on fielding them. The candidature of CM Channi, Pradesh Congress chief Navjot Sidhu and former PCC chief Partap Bajwa was reportedly cleared.

The souces said the issue of dropping some sitting MLAs remained contentious with no final call on the matter.

The CEC comprises former PM Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, AK Antony, Ambika Soni, KC Venugopal, Girija Vyas, Janardan Dwivedi, Mukul Wasnik, Veerappa Moily and Mohsina Kidwai.

Earlier in the day, sources said the issue of CM face in Punjab could figure at the CEC meeting.