AICC to finalise 60 candidates for Assembly polls

Shillong, Sep 1 (UNI) The Meghalaya Congress today forwarded the names of candidates for the 2008 Assembly elections to the AICC for its final decision.

Party sources said here that Chief Minister D D Lapang and his predecessors Salseng C Marak and J D Rymbai were among the 140-odd aspirants who applied for the party ticket to contest next year's Assembly elections.

However, the name of Congress minister Robert G Lyngdoh did not figure in the list, sources added.

Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president O L Nongtdu told UNI that the names of candidates for the 60 constituencies will be finalised at the Central Election Committee scheduled to be held in Delhi this month.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Mr Lapang, Mr Nongtdu and senior AICC leaders will attend the meeting to assess the strength and weaknesses of the aspirants and factors to be considered in deciding the candidature.

On Mr Rymbai's announcement that he will not contest the forthcoming Assembly polls on Congress ticket, the MPCC president said, ''We will forward the name of Mr Rymbai to the AICC with the remark that he does not want to contest the elections on Congress ticket.'' Mr Rymbai, who was ousted as chief minister by Mr Lapang on March 10, had indicated to the UDP leadership that he would contest the elections on a UDP ticket from Jirang constituency.

UNI