Cong PAC discusses ticket distribution ahead of Chhattisgarh assembly polls

RAIPUR: Congress party during the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting on Saturday in Raipur discussed "ticket distribution" ahead of the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections, scheduled later this year, state Deputy Chief Minister TS Singh Deo said. Many senior leaders of the Congress party, including the party's in-charge of Organisation KC Venugopal, flew down to the poll-bound state to attend the meeting.

Addressing a press briefing after the meeting, Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister said, "Today an important meeting was held. AICC in-charge of Organisation Venugopal had come. The members and heads of the screening committees, all the nominated observers of every Lok Sabha constituency, among others were present."

He said that, in the meeting discussions on the process of ticket distribution were also held. "Ticket distribution was discussed in the meeting, and the members who came from outside were also informed. Applications are being taken in blocks till (August) 24. If there is any recommendation, then on the 26th the Block Committee, comprised of a maximum of five members, will send it to the District Congress Committee.

Then it will do the listing and by the 31st names will be sent to the State Congress Committee with recommendations. Then there will be an assessment in the State Congress Committee, a screening committee will sit, and the announcement of the candidates will continue respectively," he said. The state Deputy Chief Minister also said that he has applied to contest from Ambikapur Assembly constituency.

He said that there is no need for a hurry in declaring the candidates' list for the 90-member Assembly. On if there is any pressure as BJP's first candidates' list is out, he said, "There is no pressure. Before every election, there is thought that the list of candidates will be released one year, six months prior or three months prior. But the situation in every state assembly is not the same."

"Congress could have announced the list of candidates for some seats...But there is a procedure that needs to be followed. Just because they have announced doesn’t mean we have to do as well," he added. BJP on Thursday released its first list of 21 candidates in Chhattisgarh and 39 candidates in Madhya Pradesh.

The list for the 90-member Chhattisgarh assembly includes five women candidates — Laxmi Rajwade, Shakuntala Singh Porthe, Sarla Kosaria, Alka Chandrakar, and Geeta Ghasi Sahu.

In Chhattisgarh, 11 of the 21 seats for which candidates were declared are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Scheduled Castes (SC), while the remaining 10 are for candidates from the general category. Five states — Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram — will go to the polls by the end of this year.