JOIN USThe Congress is likely to declare its candidates for about 200 Lok Sabha seats by the end of this month and not all sitting MPs are expected to be re-nominated.
The early declaration of candidates would be a departure from the normal practice of making such announcements after the declaration of elections.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi had favoured declaring candidates for the Lok Sabha elections six months in advance and those for the Assembly elections at least three months ahead of the polls.
A senior Congress leader said that a meeting of the panel to shortlist the candidates will be held immediately after the AICC meeting scheduled for January 17.
The central leadership had sent independent observers to each of the 543 Lok Sabha constituencies to evaluate the ground situation and make suggestions on probable candidates.