Gujarat polls: Congress not to give poll tickets to those who lost twice in past

Ahmedabad: Gujarat Congress on Friday said that it will not give tickets for the upcoming Assembly polls to those candidates who have earlier lost elections twice.

Besides, tickets will also not be given to those who have lost by a margin of over 20,000 votes last time.

These decisions were taken in a core committee meeting of the state Congress party that was held here today.

"From next week the party will start forming panels of names for each of 182 assembly seats in the state," state Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki said after the meeting.

As per the Congress party candidate selection process, the panel of names is sent to central leadership, which picks up the final name of candidate.

The panel might have two to three names per seat. "We have decided not to give tickets to those claimants who have lost two assembly elections in the past," Solanki said.

"We have also decided not to give tickets to those who have lost by a margin of 20,000 or more votes in the last assembly polls," Solanki said adding that winnability is the criteria.

The opposition party, anticipating early polls has decided to prepare the lists of candidates to ensure that they are not caught unaware. The Congress is out of power in the state since last 25 years. "The party has also decided to give at least one ticket to woman in each district of the state," Solanki said.

Earlier, the Congress had invited applications from party workers who are interested in the contesting the polls.

Party sources said that it was decided that sitting MLAs of the party will not be allowed to change their constituencies.

Meanwhile, the party has also decided not to take out Yatra in the tribal belt of the state, which it had announced earlier.

"We have decided to postpone Adivasi Vikas Yatra, which was to start in April due to ongoing exams of class 10th and 12th. Instead we will organise five mega rallies in places dominated by tribal people between April 3 to 13," he said.

Elections are scheduled by held in later part of the year, however, the party expects that BJP may call for early election.