The Congress is expected to release on Monday the first list of its candidates for the April-May Lok Sabha elections, with former Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani tipped to test the electoral waters from the Bangalore South constituency.
The Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Congress, chaired by party president Sonia Gandhi, will have its first meeting on Monday.
Party sources said the list of almost all the candidates would be declared by the end of the month. This would, perhaps, be the first time in the history of the Congress that the candidates are announced even before the poll dates are declared by the Election Commission.
The party is expected to declare some candidates from Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh on Monday. The screening committees for these states have held their meetings, and the final short-list of candidates has been submitted to the CEC.
The Congress has nine members in the Lok Sabha from Karnataka, which has 28 parliamentary constituencies. With a Congress government installed in the state last year, the party hopes to maximise its gains in the general elections.
With an eye on “techie-votes” in Bangalore South, the Congress is almost decided on fielding Nilekani, who spearheaded the UPA initiative to roll out its UID scheme.
The Congress is expected to field all nine sitting MPs in the elections.
Besides, the names of former Union minister C K Jaffer Sharief and AICC general secretary B K Hariprasad are doing the rounds for Bangalore Central and Uttara Kannada constituencies, respectively.
Among those expected to be named in the first list are Sachin Pilot, Priya Dutt, Milind Deora and Gurudas Kamat.
The fledgling Aam Aadmi Party, which bolted out of a trailblazing 49-day government in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, on Sunday, took the lead over the national parties by announcing 20 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.
With the Congress witnessing a leadership transition to Rahul Gandhi, the party is expected to field at least 100 young candidates, mostly drawn from frontal organisations such as the Youth Congress and the Mahila Congress.
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