Journalism of Courage
The election committee of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee DPCC convened here on Friday to shortlist candidates for each of Delhis 70 constituencies,but failed to arrive at a decision.
Besides,while screening the names of MLAs,the election committee found that four had criminal cases against them,party sources said.
A senior leader said the criminal cases against the MLAs came to light when the election committee was screening applications submitted by the partys 42 MLAs. It was found that four of them have criminal cases against them. They have been given time to explain the allegations and the status of the cases. The names of the rest were sent to the screening committee, the leader said.
According to party leaders,discussions on criminal charges against ticket-seekers dominated the meeting of the election committee with many voicing concern over the applications of candidates facing criminal charges.
According to a party leader,the election committee will meet again on October 14 to scrutinise the applications. The party has received over 1,600 applications for the Assembly polls.
The initial plan was to divide the 70 constituencies into two groups of 35 each and then screen the applications. But that did not happen on Friday, a senior party leader said.
The DPCC is likely to shortlist three candidates per constituency,who will then be interviewed by AICCs screening committee.
The Congress has 42 MLAs and for most of these seats,there are four to seven ticket-seekers. And in seats held by Opposition parties,there are 10 ticket-seekers from the Congress on an average.
Senior leaders said while winnability remains the main criteria for selection of candidates,the performance of Congress MLAs will also be looked at during the selection process.
