Punjab Assembly polls: First meeting of Congress screening panel starts

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 4

The first meeting of the Congress screening committee for the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections commenced at 6 pm at the party’s war room here on the Gurdwara Rakabganj Road.

Senior leader and AICC general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan Ajay Maken is heading the screening committee.

Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has not come for the maiden conference of the panel due to his official engagements in Chandigarh, sources said.

The committee has among members Chandan Yadav and Krishna Allavaru, Congress joint secretary in-charge of the Youth Congress.

Ex officio members of the committee are Harish Choudhary, AICC in-charge of the state; PCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu; ex-state chief and chairman, Punjab election campaign committee, Sunil Jakhar; and all AICC secretaries in-charge of the state.

The screening committee will consider candidates for the upcoming elections, with 80 of the state Assembly’s current 117 MLAs hailing from the Congress.

Denying tickets to sitting MLAs would be an uphill task for the Congress with the BJP and Amarinder Singh’s new outfit waiting to poach senior leaders.

The Congress has agreed to follow one family, one ticket rule in Punjab.