OPCC Finalises List Of 44 Candidates For Assembly Polls

Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the Assembly elections, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) has finalized the first list of 44 candidates.

The list was finalized at a meeting of the Pradesh Election Committee (PEC) at the Congress Bhawan here on Monday.

Talking to mediapersons after the meeting, OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik said the selection of the candidates has been made with emphasis on the youth and their winnability.

“Twelve sitting MLAs figure in 44 selected candidates. Of the 44 candidates, 20 are from the south, 11 from the west and 13 from the coastal areas. The list of the candidates would be sent to the AICC Screening Committee for review. In this connection, the members of the AICC Screening Committee had a two-day meeting with the senior OPCC office-bearers. The Committee, after its review, will send the PEC list to the AICC Central Election Committee (CEC). The Committee, after taking a final decision, will send the list to the party supremo Rahul Gandhi for his final approval,” Niranjan said.

He also said that the name of the selected candidates will be announced after the Durga Puja.

Present at the meeting, chairperson of AICC Screening Committee VD Sathesan, said that the PEC had prepared the criteria and guidelines for selection of the candidate. “The PEC will submit either a single candidate or a panel of names from each constituency. We wanted to announce the name of some of the candidates. But so far, there is no deadline for the announcement of their names,” he pointed out.

AICC secretary and Odisha in-charge Jitender Singh said the district presidents have been asked to suggest the name of the prospective candidates. Besides, the senior PEC members have been requested to suggest names of the candidates, he added.