BHUBNESHWAR: In a bid to make candidates better acquainted with their constituents and prepare the groundwork for the polls, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) today said that there will be an early announcement of its nominees for the ensuing assembly elections slated for next year.
President of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Niranjan Patnaik said that in the first phase names of 50 candidates will be announced by August this year. The early announcement of candidates is part of the process initiated by the Congress for revival in the state under a new leadership.
“We will fight the election to become the number one party in the state. I am quite hopeful that the people of Odisha will not make the same mistake this time,” he said.
Besides the early announcement of candidates, the party has decided to form booth committees by July 15. Presidents of all 33 organisational districts have been announced while the controversy over the 'one man' post policy has been put to rest with the party leadership clarifying that winnability will be the main factor for getting a ticket for the next elections. The process of the announcement of the candidate was initiated by OPCC working president Pradip Majhi on March 30, 2018.
Majhi held a meeting with party workers in Malkangiri to select candidates for the assembly elections and announced that candidates for all the seven assembly constituencies in Koraput district will be announced soon.
Majhi and over 200 party workers congregated in front of the Kalimela tehsil office in Malkangiri district and announced Mala Madhi as the party candidate for Malkangiri Assembly constituency. After the announcement of the candidate, Majhi and other leaders launched the campaign from MV-69 village.
The announcement of OPCC president on early announcement of candidates came a day after the formation of the screening committees by the AICC president Rahul Gandhi for five states, including Odisha. For Odisha, VD Satheesan is the chairman of the screening committee while Jitin Prasada and Naushad Solanki are the members of the committee. The committee will select the candidates in consultation with the OPCC for the forthcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.