Taking its time to select the best candidates for fielding in the great electoral battle, the Congress party has made it clear to its sitting Parliamentarians that their stakes on the seat would depend on their past performance.
Besides, the party high command has asked the members of the State Screening Committee to prepare a panel of five probable candidates against each lok Sabha seat, out which the “best” candidate will be selected.
With the final authority to decide on the candidates’ names vested with the party national president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi, the party has still not been able to zero in on any names despite two meetings. The party committee would now meet after the Parliament session. Making it clear to the party’s sitting MPs, the party high command has indicated that their performance would be the criteria for their selection for the ticket.
“In the party’s State Screening Committee’s meeting a day before, no consensus was reached on the names of candidates for upcoming lok Sabha elections. Another meeting will be called soon to shortlist the candidates after considering the performance of the candidates from all Assembly segments falling in 13 lok Sabha constituencies, during the past three-four years,” a senior Congress leaders, requesting anonymity told The Pioneer.
It has been learnt that there are nearly 150 applicants including Patiala MP and Union Minister of State for External Affairs Parneet Kaur. Notably, Patiala is the only parliamentary segment from where not even a single application was received. “The Screening Committee has clarified that that the sitting MPs need not to apply for the lok Sabha seat and their names will be considered on the basis of their performance,” added the leader.
Party’s six-member Screening Committee, headed by Kerala MP PC Chacko, includes AICC general secretary and in-charge of Punjab affairs Shakeel Ahmed, AICC secretary Deepak Babaria, AICC secretary Harish Chaudhary, PPCC president Partap Singh Bajwa and ClP leader Sunil Jakhar.
Over two years after Congress party lost the 2012 Punjab Assembly polls, allegedly due to wrong and late allocation of seats, the party had set the ball rolling for finalising the names of its candidates comparatively early.
The move was interpreted as party’s clear-cut departure from its earlier practice of holding back the list of nominees till the last date of filing of nominations. Amidst different surveys writing off the party, the Congress has hinted at adopting only one criterion for ticket distribution winnability.