BSP mum, Cong to contest all seats

Sources say it would be up to the state party unit to verify the merits of a ‘‘tacit understanding’’ with the BSP and to work out on how many seats such an understanding would be advisable. The BSP is said to be eyeing over 60 seats which the Congress is most unlikely to agree upon.

While a section of the party leadership is said to be divided over an alliance with the BSP, another section is keen on the Congress having a ‘‘friendly fight’’ on the ‘‘difficult’’ seats. At the moment, the Congress state unit is said to have identified 30 such ‘‘difficult’’ seats which have traditionally been vulnerable to shifting votes, especially in the areas bordering UP.

According to AICC sources, the Pradesh Election Committee finalised 79 seats and the Election Screening Committee finalised a further 46 seats. This list of 125 seats was taken up along with the other 105 seats today at the five-hour-long CEC meeting.

Soni, emerging from the Central Election Committee meeting, stressed that ‘‘caste equations’’ and ‘‘regional feelings’’ of each district of the state would be addressed while choosing candidates. Significantly, she added that the ‘‘aspirations of the party workers’’ would be a serious consideration for candidate selection. It is expected that the seats in Madhya Pradesh will be announced in two lists, the first list to come out with these 125 names soon.