BENGALURU: The Congress in Karnataka on Thursday said its screening committee has finalised the list of candidates for most of the assembly seats for the upcoming elections, and will soon send it to the party high command for approval.
The party also said the list will be released once the election dates are announced by the Election Commission.
"Our screening committee reviewed all the applications of the aspirants. The opinion of the screening committee will be sent to the central election committee of the All India Congress Committee for final review," Congress state president D K Shivakumar told reporters here.
He added that the screening committee has tried its best to give justice to every section of society.
"We kept social engineering in mind while preparing our recommendations. Immediately after the Election Commission announces the election date, we will release our list of candidates," Shivakumar said.
Speaking on the occasion, Congress national general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala said the screening committee, constituted by AICC, met for three days in Bengaluru and decided the list of candidates.
"The screening committee met for three days and discussed on each of the 224 assembly seats in the state. We have attempted to build a unifying consensus mostly. We have succeeded largely. We will very soon be taking the large number of those seats to the central election committee for approval and further discussion," Surjewala said.
He added that the encouraging response the party has received "will lead to completion of our 150-plus mission."
The Congress announcement came on the day a team of the Election Commission of India led by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar reached Bengaluru to review poll preparedness.
The Congress was in power in the state from 2013 to 2018 with senior leader Siddaramaiah heading the government. The party was a part of the short-lived coalition government with the JD(S) from 2018 to 2019.