Congress Choices: Bihar, Odisha Candidates Disclosed After CEC Meet

In New Delhi, a gathering of eminent Congress figures convened on Sunday to deliberate upon the potential candidates for the party’s representation in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Bihar and Odisha. Insider reports suggest that Mohammad Jawed and Tariq Anwar are being considered for nomination from Kishanganj and Katihar respectively.

The assembly, presided over by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Sonia Gandhi, and party general secretary K C Venugopal, alongside members of its Central Election Committee (CEC) such as Ambika Soni, Madhusudan Mistry, and Salman Khurshid, discussed the strategic selection of candidates.

In attendance for the Bihar constituency discussions were state unit chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh and AICC representative Mohan Prakash. Insights reveal that deliberations focused on three Bihar seats, with Mohammad Jawed and Tariq Anwar emerging as potential candidates for Kishanganj and Katihar respectively. It’s noteworthy that Jawed currently holds the seat in Kishanganj.

As part of the collaborative seat-sharing arrangement among allies in Bihar, the RJD is slated to contest 26 seats, marking an increase from its previous count of 17 in the 2019 elections. The Congress, meanwhile, has secured nine seats, the same number it contested in the previous elections. The CPI(ML) Liberation has been allocated three seats, while the CPI and CPI(M) each received one.

Of particular significance among the seats apportioned to the Congress are Kishanganj, Bihar’s sole Muslim-majority constituency, which the party has successfully clinched in previous elections, and the adjoining Katihar, where esteemed leader Anwar faced defeat in 2019 after his 2014 victory under the NCP banner. Additionally, the CEC engaged in thorough deliberations regarding Odisha’s candidate selection, finalizing nominations for several constituencies.

AICC’s Odisha representative Ajoy Kumar and Odisha Congress chief Sarat Pattanayak were also in attendance at the meeting, indicative of the party’s comprehensive approach to candidate selection. The Congress has conducted multiple rounds of CEC meetings thus far, with a total of 211 candidates having been named for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.