Congress candidates for the municipal elections in April will only be named after the schedule for the polls is notified, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Ajay Maken said on Saturday.
The party is in the process of going through over 10,000 applications received from those hopeful of a ticket, said Mr. Maken, adding that they would not jump the gun when it came to announcing its candidates.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had on Friday announced the names of its candidates for 109 out of the total 272 wards in Delhi.
Mr. Maken, however, said it would be “premature” to announce the candidates as the Delhi High Court was yet to give its judgment in a case challenging the reservation of wards for women and Scheduled Caste candidates. The next hearing is on March 8, said Mr. Maken.
“We will start announcing the names of candidates from the day the polls are notified. In the past, the candidates would be announced just before nomination,” said Mr. Maken.
New method
The Congress has adopted a different method to select its candidates this time around. The party has invited applications from potential candidates and given workers a say in the selection. Each applicant has to name five workers in their area, who will be asked about their candidature.
“We have received over 10,000 applications and are processing them. We think about 3,000 to 4,000 of these will be genuine applicants. We are calling each and every worker listed to ask them about their opinion of the applicant,” said Mr. Maken.
Mr. Maken said that while the Congress was becoming “more democratic”, the AAP had become “undemocratic”: “The AAP had said they would ask the people, their workers for inputs in selecting candidates. But that is not happening. There is no democracy within the party.”
