26 Nov 2021  |   06:36am IST

Cong block panel chiefs to choose candidates

Team Herald

PANJIM: In the absence of members, the Block Congress Committee presidents will have supremacy in the process of selection of candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls which starts from Friday, November 26.

Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) senior vice president M K Shaikh said the Block Congress committees from South Goa district will meet on November 26 and 27 in the respective blocks to recommend the names of party candidates. 

The Block Congress Committees from North Goa district will meet on November 28 and December 1 and recommend the names of candidates for constituencies of North Goa.  

All India Congress Committee (AICC) observer Prakash Rathod, district observers Sunil Hannumanavar and Mansoor Khan and M K Shaikh will attend these meetings. 

However, the party functionaries said following dissolution of all Block Congress Committees in September this year, the party appointed only presidents for all Block Congress Committees while members are yet to be appointed. They said in such a situation only Block presidents will have sole authority in selecting the names of his/her choice and raised fears that in many cases the Block presidents will not even take active members into confidence and invite the people of his/her choice for the meeting.  

After former Union Minister AICC election observer P Chidambaram declared that the Block presidents will not be allowed to contest the Assembly elections, many aspirants declined to take the posts. At the same time, Chidambaram had also made it clear that only names recommended by the Block committees will be considered and finalised. 

It will be only the Block presidents, who will select the names candidates and there are also possibilities that the presidents may select only one name. 

Refusing to come to record, the party functionaries demanded that the process of selecting names be started after reconstituting the Block Committees fully. The selection of names should be recommended by entire Block committees and not by only presidents, they said.