MP: Congress LS candidates may be declared next month, says AICC leader
Bhopal: Congress may declare its candidates for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, due in May-June this year, for Madhya Pradesh in the first week of February.
This was indicated by the AICC general secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh affairs of the party Jitendra Singh.
“The LS candidates of the party for MP may be declared in the first week of February to give them enough time to campaign in their respective constituencies for the upcoming LS polls”, Mr Singh told reporters on the sidelines of the first meeting of the newly constituted Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting of state Congress, held here late on Monday.
Sources said that a high-level Congress team led by Mr Singh is set to move around the state to hold meetings with the local party leaders and workers not only to galvanise them ahead of the upcoming LS polls but also to gather inputs from them on the prospective candidates with winning prospects in their respective parliamentary constituencies.
State Congress president Jitu Patwari is also a part of the team.
The team is currently camping in Gwalior-Chambal region in the state.
“The LS candidates of the party in MP will be decided by the state Congress this time. Only a single name for each of the 29 LS seats will be sent by the Pradesh Election Committee (PEC) for the approval by the parliamentary board of the party”, Congress spokesman K K Mishra told this newspaper on Tuesday.
A senior Congress functionary however indicated that the party leadership is still in a dilemma as to if the idea of declaring candidates for the upcoming LS polls three-four months ahead of the elections will be ‘feasible’ for the nominees, considering the poll expenditures involved.
“Many candidates may find it unsustainable to fund their campaign for three-four months in the run-up to the polls”, the Congress leader said.
BJP had swept the 2019 LS polls in MP by winning 28 out of 29 seats, leaving Congress to retain the lone seat of Chhindwara.