First list of Cong nominees before Apr 16: Kharge

Bangalore, Apr 9: The Congress in Karnataka will announce its first list of party nominees for the next month elections before April 16, KPCC president Mallikarjuna Kharge said today.

Speaking to newspersons here, Mr Kharge said the party had received more than 2,800 applications from the aspirants to contest for the 224 Assembly seats in Karnataka.

The Party High Command had deputed senior leaders, including Union Ministers Vayalar Ravi, Kapil Sibal, Jairam Ramesh and party Karnataka in-charge Pritiviraj Chavan to guide the election committee in short listing the names of party nominees, he added.

With the presence of party high command representatives, the committee on election would meet for two days from today and deliberate over finalisation of the party candidates list.

''The first list of party nominees is expected to be announced before April 16,'' he said.

Replying to questions, Mr Kharge said it was the intention of the party to accommodate more number of women and youths to contest the coming elections. The names would be released after taking into account their winning abilities.

The 50-member election committee headed by AICC general secretary and Karnataka in-charge of party affairs Prithviraj Chavan would meet today and continue for tomorrow also, Mr Kharge said adding that as 'elections in Karnataka will be held in three phases and taking the time constraints into consideration, the names of those selected would also be announced in a phased manner.''

UNI