Congress to release first list of candidates for Odisha Assembly polls soon

'The candidates will be selected on the basis of winnability. Youths, women, and Dalit candidates will be given priority,' said Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Sarat Pattanayak.

Bhubaneswar: The Congress plans to soon announce its first list of candidates for the upcoming assembly polls in Odisha, a party leader has said.

The decision was taken during a meeting of the Pradesh Election Committee (PEC) held here on Monday.

Key leaders including Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Sarat Pattanayak, former presidents Prasad Harichandan and Jaydev Jena, MP Saptagiri Ulaka, senior MLAs Narasingha Mishra and Santosh Singh Saluja, campaign committee chief Bijay Patnaik, and senior Congress members attended the meeting.

Pattanayak said the candidates will be selected based on winnability factor.

"The candidates will be selected on the basis of winnability. Youths, women, and Dalit candidates will be given priority. We are trying to come up with the first list of candidates soon," Pattanayak told reporters.

The PEC is currently scrutinising probable candidates based on recommendations from district Congress units. These names will be forwarded to the central election committee (CEC) for final approval, he added.

MP Saptagiri Ulaka said the party has received a significant number of applications from aspirants through the Pragman portal, with 3,000 for Assembly elections and 700 for Lok Sabha polls.

"Efforts are underway to announce the candidates promptly to allow sufficient time for preparation," Ulaka said.

However, amidst the election preparations, former minister Nabin Chandra Narayan Das and former Dhenkanal district president Saroj Patnaik resigned from the party.

Their resignations come close on the heels of former MLAs Anshuman Mohanty and Nihar Ranjan Mohananda quitting the party.

Meanwhile, state Congress women wing president Minakshi Bahinipati announced plans for the Mahila Congress to gherao Naveen Niwas, the residence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, on February 21.

"The BJD government under Naveen Patnaik is using women for vote bank. The BJD government is trying to allure women through various schemes only to get their votes. But the core issues of women haven't been resolved even after 24 years of rule," Bahinipati alleged.