UP Congress sends names for all 403 assembly seats

Lucknow, Jan 5 (IANS) The Uttar Pradesh State Election Committee on Thursday sent its recommendations for the 403 state assembly seats to the party high command.

At a meeting chaired by state unit president Raj Babbar and attended by its Chief Ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit, and top leaders like Nirmal Khatri, Rajya Sabha members Pramod Tiwari, P.L. Punia, Sanjay Singh, former union ministers Pradeep Jain Aditya and Jitin Prasad, every seat was discussed and a proposal sent to the high command.

Chairman of the Coordinate Committee of the UP Congress, Tiwari said that for every seat there were 8-10 applicants, mostly youngsters and women.

"We have cleared the names which were considered winnable candidates and the finally decision now will be taken by the central leadership," he added.

Loyalty and winnability were two factors which were considered, he said, noting that there was a good response among the interested candidates after Vice President Rahul Gandhi interacted with them.

The fact that the party has zeroed in on candidates for all the 403 seats also s1uggests that the party has put behind the discussions for a possible alliance with the ruling Samajwadi Party.

The Congress leaders, insiders say, were unhappy with the feud in the SP and were playing a safe bet for now in chalking out a lone journey for themselves. With dates of the UP polls announced already, the party is now looking forward for the central election committee to clear these names within the next few days to give it a head start in the crucial polls.

Congress has been relegated to the fourth spot in the state it once ruled for many decades. It has 28 MLAs in the outgoing assembly.