Bihar Assembly polls: Sonia Gandhi chairs CEC meeting to decide candidates

New Delhi, Sep 22 (ANI) Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday chaired a meeting of the party's Central Election Committee (CEC) to finalise candidates for the Bihar Assembly polls.

The meeting, which was being held at Gandhi's 10 Janpath residence, was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A K Antony, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel and AICC general secretary in-charge for Bihar Mukul Wasnik.

Congress is set to announce the list of candidates in a day or two.

The Pradesh Election Committee of the party had earlier sent its list to the AICC after a two-day meeting in Patna.

According to sources, the party will focus on giving tickets to youths and accommodating all sections of society apart from the winnability criteria.

The six-phase poll for 243 seats begins from October 21 and concludes November 20

The first phase of elections will take place on October 21 for 47 state assembly seats, the second phase on October 24 for 45 seats, the third phase on October28 for 48 seats, the fourth on November1 for 42 seats, the fifth phase on November 9 for 25 seats and the sixth and last phase on November 20 for 26 seats.

Counting of votes will take place on November 24.

Bihar has over 5.5 crore voters, who will exercise their franchise through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). (ANI)