Congress forms screening committee for Gujarat polls

Former Maharashtra minister and MLA Balasaheb Thorat will head the Congress's four-member screening committee for the upcoming Gujarat assembly elections, which are likely to be held in November or December.

The announcement comes a week after the party announced its Pradesh Election Committee and other election related committees. The All India Congress Committee (AICC) said in a release on Thursday that party president Sonia Gandhi has approved the screening committee.

Congress MLA from Uttar Pradesh Ajay Lallu, AICC secretary Girish Chodankar, and former Member of Parliament Meenakshi Natarajan are the three members of the screening committee.

The four-member committee will screen names of potential candidates for assembly elections recommended by the party's Pradesh ElectionCommittee, and in turn, make its own recommendations for a final decision by the party's Central Election Committee.

Last week, Congress — which has been out of power in Gujarat for more than two decades and is hoping to put up a good show this time — appointed Pradesh Election Committee, which would be chaired by the party's state unit president Bharatsinh Solanki, and comprise senior leaders of the state.

Prior to that, the party appointed close to 100 more additional office bearers to its state body and announced its manifesto, publicity, campaign, media, coordination and other committees for the elections. The party also appointed four working presidents, one for each of the four zones of the state last week.