Congress taking primaries in two constituencies to decide its candidates for the Bikaner and the Jhunjhunu parliamentary seats. The Congress would hold primaries on February 26 and March 3.
The Congress central leadership’s initiative to go for primaries for the 16 Lok Sabha constituencies selected across eight states would get underway in Rajasthan from Wednesday. The party has chosen two of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
An AICC team of nearly 20 members would first reach Bikaner to complete the entire candidate selection process there by February 26. For the Jhunjhunu parliamentary seat, the process would begin from February 19 and end on March 3.
Under the primaries, a representative section of the party workers, leaders and other influencers, satisfying certain criteria, get to decide the Congress candidates from their constituency by participating in a simple voting process. Any eligible person satisfying certain requirements laid down by the party gets to nominate himself as a candidate for the primaries.
“Primaries are being held for the first time in the country upon Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s initiative, as it makes the ticket allotment process fair and more transparent,” PCC general secretary and in-charge for Jhunjhunu seat Sushil Sharma told TOI.
As per the programme declared on Tuesday, the Congress would first go for a membership drive for the Bikaner Lok Sabha seat from February 12 to 14. This would be followed by a scrutiny of the memberships, which is actually a preparation of the voter list of local Congressmen. The party would include Congressmen from 19 categories to prepare the voter list, which is likely to have around 600 members. Party’s sitting and former MPs and MLAs, AICC members and office-bearers from the parliamentary seat, PCC members and office-bearers, Congressmen from party’s four frontal organisations, SC/ST/OBC and Minorities cells, organisation’s district and block levels and panchayat bodies would get to participate in the primaries.
Once the final voter list is published, aspirants among eligible Congressmen would be asked to fill nominations to win the party’s election ticket. For Bikaner, nominations would be filed between 1 pm and 4 pm on February 18. These would be scrutinized and symbols would be distributed to eligible candidates on February 20. On the final day-February 26-a symposium of the voting Congressmen would be held. Candidates would be allotted time to make brief speeches. Immediately thereafter, voting would be held at the symposium venue. As soon as the voting ends, the counting would begin and results declared.
The same process would be followed for the Jhunjhunu Lok Sabha seat, whose primaries process would begin on February 19. Here the membership drive would be from February 19 to 21. The scrutiny would be held on February 24 and 25. Nominations would be filed on February 25 between 1 pm and 4 pm. Scrutiny and symbol distribution would take place on February 27. With symposium, voting and results declared, the process would be completed on March 3.
Bikaner Lok Sabha schedule
Membership (voter list): Feb 12 to 14
Scrutiny (voter list): Feb 17-18 (ends at 1 pm)
Nominations (by ticket aspirants): Feb 18 (ends at 4 pm)
Scrutiny and symbol distribution: Feb 20
Symposium and election: Feb 26
Jhunjhunu Lok Sabha schedule
Membership (voter list): Feb 19 to 21
Scrutiny (voter list): Feb 24-25 (ends at 1 pm)
Nominations (by ticket aspirants): Feb 25 (ends at 4 pm)
Scrutiny and symbol distribution: Feb 27
Symposium and election: March 3
src: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Cong-declares-primaries-for-Bikaner-Jhunjhunu-LS-candidates/articleshow/30243755.cms