After publishing its first list of candidates for nine lok Sabha seats, the AICC is expected to publish the names of the rest 12 lS candidates and the list of candidates for the 70 Assembly seats, where the elections will be held in the first phase on April 10, by March 15, the day the filing of nominations starts.
“Today, the Screening Committee (SC) which was held on Wednesday under its chairman Oscar Fernades in New Delhi has finalised the candidates’ list for rest 12 lS seats and it was sent to the Central Election Committee (CEC) for its approval. I have urged the party high command to publish the list at the earliest,” said PCC president Jayadev Jena.
Jena informed that the SC meeting would be held twice to finalise the list of candidates’ for 147 Assembly seats. In the first meeting the committee would finalise the list for 70 Assembly seats. “I have requested the committee chairman to complete the formalities at his end soon and ensure publication of the list by March 15,” he said.
The BJP State leaders who were unable to attend the Thursday’s CEC meeting in New Delhi due to its prime ministerial candidate NarendraModi’s Sambalpur visit on Friday, too expected to get the final lists of candidates both for Assembly and lS seats by March 15. Earlier, the CEC has published the lists for five lS and 57 Assembly seats.“Due to Modi’s visit to Sambalpur on Friday, we are unable to attend the CEC meeting on Thursday. But we expect that the final lists of candidates will be published by March 15,” said State party spokesperson Suresh Pujari.