Ahead of the Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on September 4 constituted the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) with 16 members, including himself and his predecessors Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
The panel is meant to deliberate on shortlisted names before coming out with the final the list of candidates for any Lok Sabha or Assembly elections, including byelections.
Mr. Kharge has included several new faces in the new committee, while some veterans have been dropped to make way for them.
Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister T.S. Singh Deo, former Union Minister Salman Khurshid, Telangana MP Uttam Kumar Reddy, and Karnataka Minister K.J. George are the latest entrants.
Former Uttarakhand Congress chief Pritam Singh, Bihar MP Mohammed Jawed, Rajya Sabha member Amee Yajnik, Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Omkar Markam and former MP P.L. Punia are also the new faces.
Other prominent members of the election committee are Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, AICC general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal, and party veterans Ambika Soni and Madhusudan Mistry.
Among those who did not find a place in the panel are Mukul Wasnik, Girija Vyas and Mohsina Kidwai.
