No poll tickets for those facing serious charges: Delhi Congress

NEW DELHI: With over 1,500 Congress members seeking tickets for the 70 Assembly seats in Delhi, the party today framed broad guidelines for selecting candidates which, among others, provide for exclusion of those facing serious criminal charges.

A meeting of the party's powerful Election Committee, which deliberated on the selection criteria for candidates, decided to finalise a panel of three candidates for each of the 70 constituencies at its next meeting, likely to take place on Friday.

Sources said the meeting decided not to consider giving tickets to those facing serious criminal charges.

Neither will those who faced two consecutive defeats in either Assembly or civic body polls be considered for tickets, they said.

The meeting left it to the party leadership to decide about the percentage of women candidates.

"It has been decided that a panel of three candidates for each constituency will be finalised at the next meeting of the committee. The list of the aspirants will then be sent to the party leadership," said a committee member.

All-India Congress Committee General Secretary and in- charge for Delhi affairs, Shakeel Ahmed, AICC secretary in- charge for Delhi, Kuljit Singh Nagra, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee President, JP Agarwal and Chief Minister Sheila Diskhit attended the meeting along with senior party members.

Earlier, Urban Development Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely told a press conference that no "habitual criminals" would be given tickets.

Election Committee members Janardhan Dwivedi, Ajay Maken and Karan Singh were notable absentees at the meeting.

The 12-member manifesto committee of DPCC also met today to discuss broad issues to be included in the said document. That meeting was attended by Dikshit and Agarwal, among others.

"We are almost ready with the manifesto," said a committee member.