Team Herald
PANJIM: Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar on Sunday said that the first list of Congress candidates for the upcoming Goa Assembly elections will be announced by November-end or in the first week of December.
Speaking to reporters in the presence of Goa Pradesh Youth Congress president Varad Mardolkar and member Saish Aroskar at the Congress House, Panjim, Chodankar said that party will release the first list of seven to eight candidates by November-end or in the first week of December. He said that the party has already decided to declare the names of candidates at least two months before the poll date so that they get enough time for campaigning.
Chodankar reiterated that the party has also decided to give tickets to 70 to 80 per cent young and new faces in the elections.
Stating that there will be no change in the Congress party’s resolution not to readmit defecators into the party, Chodankar said that because of changing political situations party’s election strategists may decide on forging pre-poll alliances with other like-minded political parties in the State.
“GPCC had in the past passed a resolution not to have pre-poll alliance with any political party in the State but due to changing political situations our political and election strategists
are thinking and working on those lines,” he said.
Chodankar said that the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has already constituted Pradesh Election Committee (PEC) and the screening committee and the process of shortlisting of candidates will start soon. Once names of candidates are processed and shotlisted by the PEC, the list will be forwarded to the screening committee. He said the screening committee will screen names of all the candidates and submit it to the Central Election Committee (CEC) for the final nod.
“This is a welcoming sign that common sentiments of people of Goa and party cadre is that tickets to candidates be declared early. This will facilitate to fulfil common aspiration of the people to give early tickets,” he said adding that this time importance will be given to the candidates selected by the respective Block Congress committees.
The GPCC president said the AICC election observer for Goa P Chidambaram and Goa in-charge Dinesh Rao are holding pre-alliance talks with the political parties while he was focussing on strengthening the organisation. He claimed that the people of Goa have decided to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming elections and that the Congress will not be distracted from baseless allegations ahead of elections.
