Congress CEC holds meeting; West Bengal seats deliberated upon

The Congress' Central Election Committee met here on Tuesday to finalise candidates for the Lok Sabha elections and deliberated upon the seats it could contest in West Bengal in view of a tie-up with the Left parties.

Sources said the two sitting Congress Lok Sabha members from West Bengal -- Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from Berhampore and Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury from Maldaha Dakshin -- are likely to be the party's candidates from the two seats.

The Central Election Committee (CEC) headed by party president Mallikarjun Kharge met at the AICC headquarters here and finalised over 30 candidates from the states of Karnataka, Telangana, Chandigarh and West Bengal.

Candidates for assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh and Sikkim were also deliberated upon.

Discussion on candidates for seats in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat among others is likely to be taken up on Wednesday.

Sources said discussions were held on seats in north and central West Bengal, and it was deliberated which seats would be suitable for the Left and which ones for the Congress on the criteria of winnability.

The third list of candidates is likely to be released ''very soon'', they said.

The meeting of the CEC headed by Kharge was attended by former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal and other members of the panel. Rahul Gandhi, who is also a member of the panel, was not present during the meeting.

The Congress has so far announced 82 candidates for the seven-phase Lok Sabha polls beginning April 19.