Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge arrive to attend Congress CEC meeting

New Delhi [India], March 7 : Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge arrived at the party headquarters for a Central Election Committee meeting to discuss candidates for the Lok Sabha polls.
According to sources, the states of Chattisgarh, Delhi, Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Meghalaya, Tripura, Sikkim, and Manipur will be put for discussion.
As per the sources, discussion can likely take place on a total of 60 seats among these states.
"The first meeting of the Central Election Committee will be held on March 7," Congress leader Jairam Ramesh told ANI.
On the Congress CEC meeting, the party's General Secretary (Communications), Jairam Ramesh said, "CEC will discuss all seats. Final decisions will be taken wherever possible. CEC is the highest body that deliberates on and finalises candidates."
According to sources, it is worth mentioning that discussions will not be held for the seats of Amethi and Rai Bareli today. As per the seat-sharing arrangement of the INDIA bloc in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress will field a total of 17 candidates out of 80 Lok Sabha seats.
Expressing surprise over the prolonged delay in the announcement of the Congress party candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Union Minister Smriti Irani asserted on Thursday that the extended timeframe might be an indicator of the Congress facing defeat in the upcoming elections.
Union Minister Smriti Irani, who defeated Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 elections from the Amethi seat, said, "Why are people who say that Amethi is the Gandhi family's bastion taking so much time to announce a candidate? Their lack of confidence tells that Amethi is no longer the Congress' stronghold," she said.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is the chairperson of the committee and its members include former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress panel tasked with preparing the party's manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls has prepared the draft, which will now be discussed by the Congress Working Committee
Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who heads the manifesto committee, said on Tuesday that the draft report will be presented to the Congress president.
"We have prepared the draft manifesto. Now it will go to the Congress Working Committee. They will finalize the manifesto, and then it will become the Congress party document. Tomorrow we will hand over this draft to the Congress President," he said.
The Lok Sabha polls are likely to be held in April-May this year.