The Congress will begin the exercise of finalisation of its candidates with the first meeting of the Central Election Committee on Thursday. The panel, chaired by party president Sonia Gandhi and which also has PM Manmohan Singh and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi as its members, is likely to decide candidates for a number of seats where the processes have been completed.
Sources said meetings of central screening committees for several States have already been held to shortlist candidates. About 50 observers, mainly MPs or former MPs, selected by AICC, have already prepared a separate list of candidates after visiting all 543 lok Sabha constituencies. Criteria like denial of tickets to those who have successively tasted two electoral defeats or lost their deposits in the last poll have also been put in place.
Early finalisation of candidates for elections was a key recommendation of the AK Antony Committee, which Rahul is keen to implement in the coming general elections in April-May. The party plans to finalise most of the candidates by this month-end. Meetings of the election committees in the states have concluded last month and several Pradesh election committees passed one-line resolution authorising Sonia and Rahul to finalise the nominees.