CHENNAI: Around 85 per cent of the candidates for the 28 seats that the Congress is contesting in the upcoming Assembly polls have been finalised at the Congress Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting held in AICC headquarters at New Delhi on Thursday, claimed TNCC chief K Selvaperunthagai.

The remaining 15% of candidates would be finalised within a few hours after further consultations, he said, adding that the final list is expected to be released either by late Thursday night or by Friday morning.

The meeting, which was held under the leadership of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, lasted for more than an hour.

Justifying the delay, Selvaperunthagai said as an all India party, Congress requires extensive discussions before arriving at final decisions.

He then sought to deflect the criticisms, questioning why similar scrutiny was not directed at the BJP, which has also not fully announced its candidates so far.

The Congress, a key ally in the DMK-led alliance, was allotted 28 Assembly seats and one Rajya Sabha on March 4.

However, the party has not been able to finalise the candidates even after nearly a month, even as the nomination deadline of April 6 is fast approaching.

The delay was attributed to internal differences and prolonged deliberations within the party’s Screening Committee, which had submitted multiple names for each constituency to the CEC.