The screening committee of Congress met at the party headquarters on Tuesday and discussed the names of candidates for Lok Sabha seats from various states. The Central Election Committee of the Congress Party will meet today to discuss and finalize its candidates from Maharashtra.
Congress is likely to finalize the seat-sharing formula with Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar’s NCP in Maharashtra on March 21. If sources are to be believed, Congress has discussed the 23-14-6 formula for alliance in Maharashtra. If Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar joins Mahavikas Aghadi, his party will get 4 seats in the alliance. If he decides to stay out of the alliance, Congress will get 4 more seats.
Under this formula, Uddhav Thackeray’s party can get 23 seats. Sharad Pawar’s NCP will get 6 seats and Congress can contest on 19 seats. The final announcement of seat sharing is likely to be made on March 21 in Mumbai. According to sources, Prakash Ambedkar has written a letter to the Congress leadership saying that his Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi will support the party from outside on seven Lok Sabha seats. Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi is not yet a part of MVA.
48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra
The screening committee of Congress met at the party headquarters on Tuesday and discussed the names of candidates for Lok Sabha seats from various states. The Central Election Committee of the Congress Party will meet today to discuss and finalize its candidates from Maharashtra. Top leaders who attended the screening committee meeting included Congress’ Maharashtra in-charge Ramesh Chennithala and Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole. There are 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, which is the second largest state in the country in terms of seats after Uttar Pradesh. There are 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP.
West Bengal was also discussed
The Central Election Committee of the Congress discussed contesting the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal in alliance with the Left parties. The Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting was held at the Delhi Congress headquarters under the chairmanship of party president Mallikarjun Kharge.
Apart from the candidates for the assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh and Sikkim, the list of more than 30 Lok Sabha candidates from Karnataka, Telangana, Chandigarh and West Bengal was finalized. Discussion on candidates for other seats including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat is likely to take place today.
Rahul Gandhi was not present in the meeting
Sources said that the seats in North and Central West Bengal were discussed and it was considered which seats would be suitable for the Left parties and which seats would be suitable for the Congress on the basis of winnability. Two sitting Congress Lok Sabha members from West Bengal – Adhir Ranjan Choudhary from Behrampur and Abu Hasem Khan Choudhary from Malda South – are likely to be the party’s candidates again.
Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal and other members of the panel attended the CEC meeting. Rahul Gandhi, who is a member of the panel, was not present during the meeting. Congress has so far announced 82 candidates for the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections starting from April 19.
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