Cong list for Punjab polls after Dec 8: Gehlot

Our Correspondent 

Jaipur, December 4

The Congress will release the first list of candidates for the Assembly polls in Punjab after December 8, party’s screening committee chairman Ashok Gehlot said here on Sunday.

A meeting of the committee was held in Delhi on Saturday and the next one would be held on December 8. After that the names of candidates would be released, said Gehlot who returned from the high command meeting last night.

Winnability was being considered prime factor in selection process, he said. There were complaints in the last Assembly polls of 2012 that ticket distribution was done properly probably due to lack of unity in the party, Gehlot said.

This time, the party and workers were united and candidates would be selected after reaching a consensus by screening committee members, Punjab PCC executive members and members concerned, he said.

PPCC will finalise the contestant panels and send these to the AICC screening committee at the earliest, the former Rajasthan CM said, adding, "We will forward the final list of screened candidates to the Parliamentary Board headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi for approval.”

Punjab Assembly, having 117 seats, would go to polls in early 2017.

Besides Gehlot the committee comprises AICC secretary incharge of the state Asha Kumari, Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh, CLP leader Charanjit Singh Channi, former Indian Youth Congress chief Rajiv Satav and former MP Meenakashi Natarajan. 

On demonetisation by the NDA government, Gehlot said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is doing a "rehearsal for 2019" general elections and making "black money and corruption" an agenda in the garb of notebandi for the Assembly polls in four states, including Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.