Rahul Gandhi to take final call on choice of candidates for 7 LS seats in Delhi: Sheila Dikshit

Congress president Rahul Gandhi will take a final call on party candidates for the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, for which 70 leaders have filed their applications, Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit said on Thursday.

The Election Committee of the Delhi Congress on Thursday unanimously resolved to entrust the final choice of the party's Lok Sabha poll candidates for the national capital to Gandhi, she told reporters.

"The resolution said Congress workers in Delhi will wholeheartedly support the candidates finalised by the Congress president and work tirelessly to make sure that the party is victorious on all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi," a statement from the Delhi Congress said.

The 70 applications will be vetted by a screening committee and the numbers will be further brought down, a senior Delhi Congress leader said.

"A list of around 25 names for the seven Lok Sabha seats will be sent to Rahul Gandhi for final decision. On average, three names from each seat will be chosen by the screening committee," he said.

The screening committee includes Shiela Dikshit, AICC in charge of Delhi unit P C Chacko, AICC secretary Kujit Nagra and AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, the party leader said.

The applicants include former Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken from New Delhi constituency, party sources claimed.

The other applicants include Arvinder Singh Lovely, A K Walia and Nasseb Singh for East Delhi; Rajkumar Chauhan, Rajesh Lilothia, Surender Kumar and Jai Kishan for north west Delhi; Yoganand Shastri and Chatar Singh for south Dellhi; Devender Yadav, Sumesh Shoukin and Mahabal Mishra for West Delhi, they said.

In the party's election committee meeting, the issue of alliance was also raised but it was unanimously struck down by the participants of the meeting, sources said.

The screening committee will hold its meeting in the next few days and the list of nomination hopefuls is expected to be sent to Gandhi within this month, they added.