By IANS,
New Delhi: The Congress screening committee, recommending candidates for the Bihar assembly polls to the central election committee (CEC) headed by party chief Sonia Gandhi, is expected to meet again as its discussions remained inconclusive Saturday, party sources said.
Discussions on some seats in the state could not be completed till late Saturday, the sources said.
They said that the discussions were taking more time than expected as screening committee had “reopened” some cases for which recommendations had been sent by the state election committee.
Ticket aspirants from the state have landed in the capital in large numbers and are seeking appointments with central leaders to press their claim for a seat.
Party sources said that the discussions were also taking more time as Congress was contesting on several seats after a long gap and had to factor in the likely choice of its rivals. The party has decided to contest all the 243 seats in the assembly on its own.
Party sources said discussions on some seats falling in the fifth and sixth round of polls were likely to continue Sunday or Monday.
The screening committee had earlier said that it will conclude discussions Saturday.
The sources said that the screening committee has already requested Gandhi to decide a date for meeting of the CEC, which will make the final choice of candidates.
The CEC has Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee as its members.
Party leaders said the screening committee will strive to give single-name recommendation on most seats after taking into account factors such as loyalty and winning prospects of the candidate.
However, the committee is expected to recommend a panel of names for seats where there is more than one strong candidate.
The committee, which met in Delhi over the past two days, is working on the recommendations of the state election committee that held its meeting in Patna earlier this week. It is also considering reports of the observers.
The party’s screening committee includes union ministers C.P. Joshi and Mukul Wasnik, state party chief Mehboob Ali Kaiser and legislature party leader Ashok Kumar Ram. Wasnik is incharge of the Congress party affairs in the state.
The party is keen to declare most of the candidates in one go to give them time for campaigning in the six-phase elections from Oct 21-Nov 20.