J&K Assembly elections: Congress CEC to choose candidates for first phase of polls on August 23

New Delhi: The Congress Central Election Committee (CEC) will meet here on Friday afternoon to discuss the candidates for the first phase of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections.

The meeting chaired by party president Mallikarjun Kharge will be attended by former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal and senior Karnataka Minister K J George among others.

The deliberations come as the last date for filing nominations for the first phase of polling ends on August 27. Initially, the plan was to hold the meeting on August 24 but it was rescheduled because Rahul has to attend a ‘Samvidhan Samman’ meeting in Allahabad on that day.

The Screening Committee headed by Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa for shortlisting candidates arrived in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday and has held a series of meetings with local leaders to look for candidates as well as know their mind on possible coalition partners.

Kharge and Rahul also arrived in Jammu on Wednesday and would be reaching Srinagar on Thursday. During the unprecedented visit, both the top leaders would be interacting with party workers.