NEW DELHI: The Congress’ Central Election Committee (CEC) met on Monday to finalise candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, days after the party released its first list. The meeting chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge held discussions for 60 parliamentary constituencies in Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, MP, Assam, Gujarat, Daman & Diu among others.
Sources said the CEC has cleared names for 12 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh. Former Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s son Nakul Nath may contest from the Chhindwara seat. Interestingly, Kamal Nath on Monday said that he will not leave Chhindwara, his political stronghold in Madhya Pradesh and ruled out the possibility of contesting from Jabalpur. Kamal Nath has represented Chhindwara Lok Sabha constituency nine times.
Sources said that names of state PCC chief Jitu Patwari and former ministers Tarun Bhanot, and Lakhan Singh Yadav are in the list.
“Our candidates on 70% Lok Sabha seats have been finalised. As far as a decision on me or any other leader is concerned, we will abide by the decision taken by the party,” said Patwari after the meeting.
Besides Kharge, former party chief Sonia Gandhi and KC Venugopal also participated in the meeting among others. Congress general secretary in-charge of Uttarakhand Kumari Selja along with senior leaders from the hill state also participated in the discussions for selecting candidates. Though Rahul Gandhi was expected to attend , he did not participate in the discussion.
Sources said that former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav Gehlot is likely to contest.