by: Nav Jeevan

Eyeing bounce back, Cong all set to field women, youth & ‘new faces’ in Gujarat Assembly polls

  • For the 182-member Assembly, the Congress is expected to announce its first list of candidates by September-end.
  • Chennithala has been appointed as the committee’s chairman and Maharashtra Congress leader Shivajirao Moghe and former Delhi MLA Jai Kishan are its members

NE NEWS SERVICE

AHMEDABAD, SEP 6

A resurgent Congress has meticulously planned its candidates’ selection for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls to bounce back to power after 27 years as it is  the ‘die or do battle’ for  it.

Speaking to media, state party’s screening committee chairman Ramesh Chennithala  on Tuesday said, “The Congress will give priority to youth and women in ticket distribution for the Gujarat Assembly elections due later this year. It will also give a chance to “new faces” in the state polls.”

Last month, the All India Congress Committee constituted a three-member screening committee to shortlist party candidates for the Gujarat polls due in December this year.

Chennithala has been appointed as the committee’s chairman and Maharashtra Congress leader Shivajirao Moghe and former Delhi MLA Jai Kishan are its members.

Gujarat Congress in-charge Raghu Sharma, state party president Jagdish Thakor and Leader of Opposition Sukhram Rathva are ex officio members of the screening committee.

On Monday evening, the screening committee members held a joint meeting with the Congress’s Pradesh Election Committee, comprising 39 members including Sharma and Thakor, after Rahul Gandhi’s address to the booth-level workers in Ahmedabad.

“This time, we will give priority to new faces, youth and women in ticket distribution. Our list of candidates for the Gujarat polls this time will be an impressive one,” Chennithala told reporters here ahead of another meeting of the screening committee on Tuesday.

Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said, “Yesterday’s joint-meeting was more about getting familiar with each other and discussing various criteria which will be applied to finalise candidates.”

On Tuesday, the screening committee will meet senior leaders and party in-charge of each Assembly seat to understand the ground situation before finalising the candidates, he said.

For the 182-member Assembly, the Congress is expected to announce its first list of candidates by September-end.