Congress forms screening committee for West Bengal elections

The Congress on Tuesday constituted the party's screening committee for the eight-phased West Bengal Assembly polls starting March 27 with Delhi leader J P Aggarwal as its chairman.

The other members of the committee are Mahesh Joshi and Naseem Khan. The panel also has some ex-officio members, including the state Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president and the AICC in-charge for West Bengal.

"Congress president has constituted the screening committee for the forthcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal with immediate effect, with J P Aggarwal as its chairman," an official statement from the party said.

The ex-officio members include AICC in-charge for West Bengal Jitin Prasad, state PCC chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and CLP leader Abdul Mannan, besides the AICC secretaries in-charge for West Bengal.

The panel would screen the probable party candidates and put forward its recommendations to the Central Election Committee of the Congress chaired by party chief Sonia Gandhi.

The Congress is contesting the West Bengal polls in a coalition with the Left parties and the Indian Secular Front (ISF), and has so far decided to contest on 92 seats in the 294-member Assembly.