Ahmedabad: In a meeting of that lasted barely 45 minutes, Congress' Central Election Committee on Friday cleared the names of 70 candidates for the first phase of Gujarat polls.
The meeting was presided by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her first major political engagement in the past two weeks after she was advised rest to recover from an upset stomach. Sources say names of the candidates, however, are likely to be made public only by next Thursday. Of the 182 Assembly seats in Gujarat, 89 seats will go to polls in the first phase on December 9.
For the Congress party, that is putting up it's strongest challenge to the BJP in the past two decades, the process of candidate selection has been of utmost importance.
Two to three contenders is being considered for each seat before zeroing on one name. Two screening panels have prepared a shortlist of probable candidates.
Sources say selection of candidates will have to be a careful affair. On the one hand, it will have to accommodate the interests of various communities like Patels, Dalits and OBCs (Alpesh Thakore has joined the party recently) and ensure the party in Gujarat stays united.
Party insiders claim the Congress list will have a clear stamp of Rahul Gandhi as he has been involved in every aspect of the Gujarat polls.
On Saturday, the Congress vice president will be back in Gujarat to campaign in North Gujarat and as part of Congress' Navsarjan Yatra and will visit the well known Ambaji temple in the Banaskantha.
