The Congress party has decided to change its system of selecting candidates, after facing flak from within the party.
The Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi met heads of 10 screening committees here on Friday and decided to draw a time-bound plan to select the candidates for the Lok Sabha election, scheduled in April-May.
The party, which usually selects its candidate in the last minute, is learnt to have decided to publish the first list in February. Rahul told the screening committees to choose candidates who reflect the will of the people.
“We are taking the decision about giving tickets in a new way, under a new process. Discussions on it about various States have been taking place within our party for a long time. We are doing this with a formal structure,” he said after the meeting.
He said all tickets will be finalised at the national level very soon.
“The thinking is that we bring a process and system in the party and bring in the voice of people in the political party systematically,” the Congress Vice-President added.
The screening committee would also be given certain parameters to decide the candidate. The party’s attempt is to avoid controversies, which is routine during the ticket distribution.
Rahul said that prior to the screening process, the party had gone through an “unprecedented level of consultation” among workers, leaders and organisational units including district Congress committees of the party.
jigeesh.am@thehindu.co.in