Congress To Hold CEC Meeting Today, Discussion On 90 Candidates For Haryana, J&K Polls On Cards

The Congress Central Election Committee will meet to finalize candidates for the Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. The meeting will consider approximately 90 names for both states

The Congress Party's Central Election Committee (CEC) is set to meet on Monday (September 2) in Delhi to finalise candidates for the upcoming Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. The meeting chaired by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, is likely to see the attendance of senior party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. 

As per sources, the names of around 90 candidates for both the Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls will be finalised in the CEC meeting today. The list of candidates for the second and third phases of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Election 2024, and Haryana Assembly Election 2024 is likely to be released later in the evening today. 

2024 Jammu and Kashmir Election

Congress, which is contesting the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls in alliance with the National Conference (NC), has already released the list of nine candidates for phase 1 of the Jammu and Kashmir legislative polls. In the list, the grand old party fielded its general secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir from Dooru and former State unit chief Vikar Rasool Wani from Banihal.

As per the NC-Congress pact, the NC is contesting on 51 seats, Congress on 32 seats while additionally, one seat each has been allotted to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP). Both the parties have also agreed to a “friendly contest” on five seats.

2024 Haryana Election

The CEC is also likely to finalise candidates for 90 seats in the Haryana Legislative Assembly. As per reports, the grand old party is likely to field fewer Jat candidates in the Haryana Assembly Election, in an attempt to accommodate more non-Jat faces. The move is seen as an attempt at containing the Bharatiya Janata Party's influence among the numerically smaller communities. 

Buoyed by its impressive performance in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, the faction-ridden Congress in Haryana is on a high. When asked about the agenda of the party's CEC meeting, Congress MP Manickam Tagore told news agency ANI that Haryana is in a very positive mood for the party. 

"We all expect more than 70 seats this time. We talk now that the momentum is on Congress' side. So, we want the process of selection of candidates as well as the combination of other things in the right way. We are working on that thing. Senior leaders, all are having meetings about the same process. More than 2500 candidates have applied. So, Congress CEC will decide about winning candidates," he said.

However, Congress, which is Haryana’s principal opposition party, remains a divided house with big leaders like Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Kumari Selja remaining hostile towards each other.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday, August 31, revised the polling day for Haryana Assembly polls from October 1 to October 5, as well as moved the counting of votes for both Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana assemblies from October 4 to October 8.