Congress' first list may be declared on November 12; all names by November 16

New Delhi, Nov 10: With election dates coming closure by the day, discussion on names of candidate is in the final stage in the Congress. Churning over such names of the Congress candidates in Rajasthan is continuing on which consensus has not yet been arrived at, so it is expected that by November 12, the party may declare names of around 100 candidates in its first list. The meeting of the Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Congress might take a call on these names which will mostly have former MLAs and senior leaders of the party.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi will head the CEC meeting besides some other senior leaders being part of it and declare the first list as nominations in Rajasthan will start from November 12. State in-charge of the Congress Avinash Pandey indicated that besides winability being one of the criteria, the party president wants more youth and women candidates in the Congress list and such people would be preferred who have worked for the party.

Party sources said that around 160 names have been finalised by the screening committee but there is still some disagreements on certain names so deliberations and churning are continuing on these names. But sources said that by November 16 all names of the Congress will be declared. The last date for the nomination is November 19.

The Congress president in his several election meetings talked about giving more and tickets to women in Rajasthan so it is likely that names of more women candidates may figure in the Congress list. The total number of women and youth candidates is also likely to be more than the last election.