Odisha Congress Announces Criteria For Selection Of Party Candidates

Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled next year, the Odisha Congress on Tuesday announced the criteria for the selection of the party candidates.

Talking to mediapersons after the meeting of the Pradesh Election Committee (PEC), president of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Niranjan Patnaik said it has been decided that those who had lost their deposits in the previous Assembly elections will not be given the party ticket and their candidature will not be taken into consideration.

“Besides, those who have been jailed on the charge of criminal offence will not be given the ticket. However, the candidature of the party leader, who is jailed on political vendetta, will be considered,” he added.

He further hinted that the party may consider allotting tickets to more than one member of a family with political background.

In the next PEC meeting, the party will come up with specific criteria on the winning prospect of the party candidates, he added.

During the meeting, AICC leader and Odisha in-charge Jitender Singh had a separate one-on-one discussion with 25 aspiring candidates of the north, south and coastal areas who had lost the Assembly elections in 2014 by less than 15,000 votes.

Sources in the party said that the OPCC will send a list of about 50 candidates to the AICC Screening Committee in a couple of days and it will be finalised by the end of August.