The Congress is likely to announce its list of candidates of all 70 seats by November 9. The Congress Screening Committee (CSC), headed by V Narayanasamy, met on Wednesday to sort the list of probable cand-idates of those seats which had been lost in the 2008 Assembly polls.
Top sources told The Pioneer that the Congress High Command may announce names of contestants for the upcoming Assembly polls by November 9. The Congress reportedly has decided to give tickets to all sitting MlAs, including Asif Mohammed Khan, from Okhla seat. As far as Dayanand Chandela is concerned, the Congress may give a ticket to his family member from the Rajouri Garden seat.
According to sources, the Congress leadership is focusing on the criteria of win-ability. There are apprehensions that if they deny tickets to some sitting MlAs, they will help the Opposition candidates. "The same thing had happened in the 2008 Assembly polls where the Congress had denied tickets to three sitting MlAs -- Jile Singh Chauhan from Burari, Brahmpal (Mandawali) and Vinay Sharma, who reportedly helped dent the prospects of its official candidates. The party is in no mood to repeat the same mistake this time," said the sources.
In a related development, not willing to leave anything to chance, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Delhi Congress president Jai Prakash Aggarwal, met some sitting MlAs on Wednesday and discussed disenchantment of the party workers, including councillors who had lost the MCD polls in their Assembly seats. Congress MlA Dr Yoganand Shastri, Malaram Gangwar, Anil Choudhury and Balram Tanwar called by Dikshit and Aggarwal at the latter's residence asked them to resolve their differences with party workers.