Congress may hold next meeting on Lok Sabha candidates on April 13

New Delhi: The Congress party is likely to hold the next meeting of it’s Central Election Committee on April 13, two senior party leaders indicated to HT.
The party has already declared 260 seats though it is yet to decide candidates for nine seats in Haryana as alliance partner Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded a candidate in Kurukshetra; the party is yet to announce candidates for three seats each from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and might also field a few more candidates from West Bengal.
The upcoming CEC assumes significance as party leaders are expected to discuss candidates for the high-profile seats of Amethi and Raebareli even as a large section of the party is believed to favour party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi contesting from the two constituencies.
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In the last CEC meeting, the leaders could not discuss candidates for Haryana due to shortage of time. The CEC is yet to take a final call on the Delhi candidates from northeast Delhi, Chandi Chowk and northwest Delhi.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s close aide Koppula Raju and a six-term former MP Chinta Mohan were among the list of six Lok Sabha candidates from Andhra Pradesh, the party announced on Tuesday.
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Raju, an IAS officer turned Congress leader is the party’s National Coordinator of SC, OBC, minority and Adivasi wings. Raju’s tryst with the Congress started after he was included in the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council during the UPA regime. He will be fighting his first Lok Sabha polls.
The Congress has fielded a six-term former MP Chinta Mohan from Tirupati; he had been a member of 8th, 9th, 10th, 12th, 14th and 15th Lok Sabha.