Congress to hold CEC for Chhattisgarh on Oct 13 to finalise poll candidates

The Congress will hold a meeting of the Central Election Committee (CEC) for Chhattisgarh on October 13 to finalise the candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state, party sources said.

A party source said the CEC meeting will be held in the national capital as several rounds of Screening Committee meetings have already taken place.

On September 4, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had constituted the 16-member CEC with CPP chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi also as its members.

Ambika Soni, Madhusudan Mistry, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Salman Khurshid, N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister T S Singh Deo, K J Geogre, Pritam Singh, Mohammad Jawed, Amee Yajnik, P.L. Punia, Omkar Markam and K.C. Venugopal are also members of the CEC.

The Congress is campaigning aggressively in Chhattisgarh with Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra leading from the front.

The three leaders have already addressed public meetings in the poll-bound state.

The Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government has launched several pro-people schemes in the tribal dominated state and is hopeful of returning to power for the second consecutive term.

Meanwhile, the BJP is also gearing up for the polls and has slammed the Congress accusing it of indulging in corruption.