New Delhi, November 4
True to party tradition, Himachal Pradesh Congress Election Committee today passed a one-line resolution authorising party president Sonia Gandhi to select candidates for the assembly elections in the state.
The resolution, moved by PCC chief Viplove Thakur and supported by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in the presence of senior AICC leader R K Dhawan, was passed unanimously. The resolution, moved within minutes after the meeting started, has put the ball of the selection process firmly in the court of the central leadership. It was the first meeting of the state election committee and the members did not discuss any names.
However, Dhawan, who is in charge of Himachal Pradesh, asked the members to send their recommendations of names which would be treated in confidence. The members discussed poll-related issues, including formation of campaign committee and media committee. There was a suggestion to advance the meeting of the screening committee, scheduled for November 18, to finalise the ticket at an early date.
Sources said the PCC has received nearly 400 applications for the 65 assembly seats in the state which will go to poll in December. The applications have been forwarded by the respective DCCs. The maximum applications are from Solan with 22 aspirants seeking the party ticket from the constituency. Sources said that on 14 seats, including Rohru from where Virbhadra Singh will seek re-election, there is only one candidate. The single-name seats include Pachhad (Gangu Ram Musafir), Shillai (Harshwardhan Chauhan), Gagret (Kuldeep Kumar Dhiman), Santoshgarh (Mukesh Agnihotri), Jawali (Sujan Singh Pathania), Baijnath (Sudhir Sharma), Palampur (Brij Bihari Lal Butail), Nagrota Bagwan (G S Bali), Bhatiyat (Kuldeep Singh Pathania), Banikhet (Asha Kumari), Nachan (Tek Chand), Gopalpur (Rangila Ram Rao) and Drang (Kaul Singh).
All the single-name seats are represented by sitting MLAs. The
sources said that the candidates having no rival contender were almost sure of getting the party ticket. The other sitting MLAs also have an edge over rival claimants from their seats but with the party leaders making winnability the main criterion for selection, changes have not been ruled out. There are 35 seats with five or more applicants. Kumarsain, represented by former PCC chief Vidya Stokes, has four aspirants. Associate members of the party have also applied for the party ticket.
The list of applicants, along with results of the elections from 1993 and seat-wise caste analysis, has been given to all the members of the state election committee. The PCC chief said that new names would not be added to the list of applicants and the the selection would be made from among the aspirants who have applied.
The sources said that Dhawan was likely to receive recommendations from the election committee members in the next three or four days after which panels would be prepared for seats where there was no consensus. The recommendations would be placed before the screening committee for the state which is scheduled to meet on November 18 to finalise its list for final clearance by the Congress Central Election Committee.
Senior AICC leaders Mohsina Kidwai, Motilal Vora besides R K Dhawan, Viplove Thakur and Virbhadra Singh are members of the screening committee.
Today's state election meeting was attended by all its members besides the special invitees. Youth Congress president Sukhwinder Sukhu and party MP Pratibha Singh could not attend the meeting.
The party has also begun the process of finalising its manifesto. Revenue minister Sat Majan, who is also member of the manifesto committee, said the manifesto would be "pro-poor" and its thrust would be on the social sector.
