Congress poll panel split on handing tickets to MLAs, Congress, Delhi poll , Delhi assembly election 2103, Delhi news, Delhi Congress, Congress Candidates For Delhi Poll, Congress ticket, Congress.
- Details
- Category: Delhi political News
- Last Updated: Thursday, 22 January 2015 20:50
Congress poll panel split on handing tickets to MLAs.
NEW DELHI: The Congress' first election committee meeting to shortlist candidates for 70 seats ended in a divided house over the norm of fielding a panel of three names for the 42 assembly constituencies out of the 70 led by Congress MLAs.
Throwing her weight behind the sitting MLAs, chief minister Sheila Dikshit stressed the need to put forth only one name by choosing the winnable candidate. Though many supported her, others were in favour of a panel.
The way things stand the list is likely to be a repeat of most sitting MLAs. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's call for empowering the grassroots remains a far cry as there seems to be little space for fresh blood here. However, MLAs with criminal records will now have to appear before AICC's screening committee and present their case details; only those with a clean record stand a chance.
The meeting of the 27-member committee, which includes Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president J P Agarwal, Sheila Dikshit, all seven MPs and cabinet ministers Arvinder Singh Lovely and Harun Yusuf, evinced the tussle for power. At least 10 seats held by sitting MLAs, including that of ministers Kiran Walia and Ramakant Goswami, led to disagreement over repeating MLAs.
J P Agarwal had said the committee may submit a panel of three names to make the shortlisting process more democratic. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, when a list for the 42 seats will be delivered. On seats where there is a consensus, no other name may be shortlisted.
Members can suggest their choice to the screening committee that will whittle down the candidates further. Sources said the CM is learnt to have told the committee to even put her seat in the list of pending cases as a mark of protest over assertion by certain members for change on certain seats.
On the criminal record, the committee was all for candidates with a clean record but found itself in a spot over taking a decision on sitting MLAs like Dayanand Chandela (Rajouri Garden), Tarvinder Singh Marwah (Jangpura), Devinder Yadav (Badli) and Asif Mohd (Okhla) whose names were raised by panel members citing records showing criminal cases.
source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com