BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) will announce the name of at least 50 candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections slated for early next year within a period of 15 days.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Odisha Jitender Singh made this announcement after the first meeting of the newly constituted OPCC here on Sunday.
“Earlier, we had said that the party will distribute tickets to about 50 candidates by the end of August. Since the selection process has been delayed, the names of the candidates will be announced in the first week of September,” Singh told reporters.
He said a meeting of the Pradesh Election Committee (PEC) will be held on Monday where the name of at least 50 candidates will be finalised. Criteria for selection of the candidates will be decided during the meeting, he added.
The former Union Minister said selection of candidates will be based on their performance and those who are linked with grassroots workers. There will be monthly review of performance of the candidates.
“Issues like strategies for the ensuing Assembly election, selection of candidates and distribution of tickets were discussed during the meeting. We will try to connect with the people in the booth-level,” Singh added.
During his last month visit to the State, Singh had said, ‘one family, one ticket’ policy will be adopted for selection of candidates for 2019 General and Assembly elections. He had further clarified that the party will not consider any recommendations while selecting candidates apart from merit.
OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik had also clarified that winnability would remain the primary criteria of ticket distribution with preference to youth, women and new faces following confusion over his ‘one man one post’ norm statement.
Patnaik said the party will embark on ‘My booth, My pride’ campaign, the model adopted by the Congress in Gujarat Assembly election last year, throughout the State. The aim is to strengthen the party organisation at booth-level and reach out voters to propagate Congress ideology.
“The party will reach out to voters in every booth which will be managed by a three-member committee. The panel will have a chairman and two members,” Patnaik added.
The two-day meeting which began on Sunday was attended by AICC secretaries Rudra Raju, Anil Chowdhury, Aditya Sharma, Mastan Vali, Leader of Opposition Narasingh Mishra, party MLAs, OPCC office bearers and members of different committees.