Cong CEC approves nominees for key Bihar seats; discusses Odisha
The Congress’s Central Election Committee (CEC) on Sunday approved the candidature of veteran leader and former Union minister Tariq Anwar from Katihar and sitting MP Md Jawaid from Kishanganj in Bihar for the Lok Sabha elections.
The party is also set to renominate sitting lawmaker Saptagiri Ulaka from Rayagada and likely to field former Union minister Srikant Jena from Balasore in Odisha.
The decision on the candidatures took place as the Congress held its CEC meeting on the two eastern states for the polls. There are 40 parliamentary seats in Bihar and 21 in Odisha.
The meeting on Bihar came days after the party finalised its seat-sharing deal with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other smaller parties for the polls.
Anwar had lost the Katihar seat to the Janata Dal (United)’s Dulal Chandra Goswami in 2019.
Sunday’s meeting also assumed importance as the RJD has refused to leave the Purnea seat for fivetime MP Pappu Yadav, who joined the Congress last week. Two leaders present in the meeting said there was no major discussion about Yadav’s candidature.
“The CEC discussed only three seats of Bihar – Katihar, Kishanganj and Bhagalpur. The party has not taken any final decision on Bhagalpur. It was kept pending in the meeting,”one of the leaders said, seeking anonymity.
Besides, the Congress discussed 18 out of 21 seats in Odisha. According to the second leader,
the CEC approved the candidates for 70% of those seats.
“The Congress is set to repeat Rayagada MP Ulaka, and former Union minister Srikant Jena is expected to get a ticket from Balasore,” the second leader said, also seeking anonymity.
The CEC also discussed the candidates for the Odisha assembly elections, which will be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls..
Congress names star campaigners for UP
Meanwhile, the Congress has announced former speaker Meira Kumar, former chief ministers Digvijaya Singh (Madhya Pradesh), Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan), Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh) and Harish Rawat (Uttarakhand), former deputy chief minister of Rajasthan Sachin Pilot and party women cell head Alka Lamba among 40 star campaigners for Uttar Pradesh.
In a letter to the Election Commission (EC), the Congress also named party president Mallikarjun Kharge and former chiefs, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, along with general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as star campaigners. A star campaigner’s cost of campaign is not included in the expenses of the candidate.