Karnataka polls: Congress may announce candidates’ list on Apr 14
New Delhi : The Congress is likely to announce its candidates for the May 12 elections on Saturday.
The Central Election Committee of the Congress is expected to meet on Friday to put its seal of approval on the list of candidates for all the 224 constituencies.
After two days of intense deliberations involving screening committee chairman Madhusudan Mistry, AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and KPCC president G Parameshwara, Congress leaders said they do not apprehend much trouble in finalising the candidates. “We have done our homework well, it will be a list of consensus candidates,” a senior Congress leader said.
While the chief minister left for Bengaluru on Tuesday evening after the two-day discussions, several state Congress leaders were still in the national capital for consultations with the screening committee. The committee is expected to continue its deliberations over the next two days and tie the loose ends before making its recommendations to the CEC. More than 1,000 aspirants had applied for the Congress tickets for the 224 seats.
Congress sources said the chief minister and the KPCC president were expected to have their say in the candidate selection process on the lines of Gujarat and Punjab.
Party leaders claimed that the ticket distribution would be balanced and inclusive, with candidates from minorities, Dalits and women getting adequate representation.
A senior Congress leader said the party would wait for the BJP to announce the names of all its candidates. The BJP has already announced its first list of 72 candidates and is expected to come out with the second list on Wednesday.