Sons of Kamal Nath, Ashok Gehlot among Congress candidates picked in second CEC meet

New Delhi: The Congress’ Central Election Committee (CEC) met for the second time on Monday and is learnt to have cleared around 50 names, including that of Nakul Nath in Madhya Pradesh and Vaibhav Gehlot in Rajasthan.

Indications suggest that top Rajasthan leaders Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot are not contesting the elections, as is former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath.

The CEC meet, chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, was attended by former party chief Sonia Gandhi, General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal and senior Karnataka Minister K J George.

Sources said candidates for around 14 of the 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh had been finalised, with the list including Nakul Nath, the sitting Chhindwara MP and son of Kamal Nath. There was speculation that Kamal Nath may be fielded, but he had earlier rubbished rumours about him contesting from Jabalpur.

In Rajasthan, candidates for around a dozen seats out of 25 have been cleared. Vaibhav, the son of Ashok Gehlot, will be fighting from Jalore Sirohi, indicating that the former Chief Minister is not entering the fray. Vaibhav had lost the previous polls.

Sources said the CPI(M) has sought a seat from the Congress, which is also exploring an alliance with Hanuman Beniwal-led Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) and a tribal party.

While the first meeting of the CEC was held last Friday and the first list of 39 candidates was announced the next day, the third meeting of the CEC is expected on March 14. The second list is likely to be announced on Tuesday.

On Monday, the CEC also discussed candidates for Gujarat, Assam and Uttarakhand. The discussion on Delhi, which was not concluded last Friday, did not take place on Monday.

The Congress has so far declared 16 candidates for Kerala, seven for Karnataka, six for Chhattisgarh, four for Telangana, two for Meghalaya and one each for Lakshadweep, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.

Sources said Congress may leave one seat for CPI(M) in Tripura.