Congress delays announcing candidates for Bihar assembly polls

The delay in the announcing the list of Congress candidates for Bihar assembly elections has puzzled the Congress workers and ticket-seekers who have been thronging the AICC headquarters in large numbers for over a fortnight now.

Party leaders say that the delay is despite the fact that the Central Election Committee of the Congress, headed by party President Sonia Gandhi, held a meeting five days ago on September 22.

As per convention, the list of candidates is declared soon after the meeting of the CEC, the highest decision making body of the party for the selection of party candidates.

The CEC meeting was attended amongst others by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to select candidates for the 243 seats in the states.

Sources said that the delay was because of accommodation of youth and women in the list at the last minute as the Pradesh Election Committee and the Screening Committee did not give them the due representation.

In addition, a balancing act between different castes and communities was being done to pose a challenge to the JD(U)-BJP alliance and the RJD-LJP combine, the two main political formations in the state against whom the Congress was pitched.

As the delay continues, hundreds of ticket aspirants wait at the AICC headquarters for any announcement. A large number of the ticket-seekers are also camping at the office and residence of AICC General Secretary in-charge of the state Mukul Wasnik.

Earlier, notification was issued for elections to 47 of the 243 assembly constituencies in the state for the first phase of polling on October 21. Elections will be held in six phases in the state.

The last date for filing nominations for the first phase of election will be October 4.