Kharge chairs CEC to finalise candidates for Telangana Assembly polls

New Delhi: Almost 10 days after releasing the first list of candidates for Telangana, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday chaired a meeting of the party's Central Election Committee (CEC) to decide the rest of candidates for the 119-member Assembly.

Besides Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, party general secretary (organization) K.C. Venugopal, state incharge Manik Rao Thakre, state unit chief A. Revanth Reddy, CLP Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu, Uttam Kumar Reddy and several others were also present.

In a post on X, Kharge said, “Telangana is getting ready for change. Telangana shall elect Congress! Staring at an imminent defeat, BRS leaders are showing their abject frustration by continuously attacking the Congress party.

“BRS, BJP, AMIM - all partners in crime know the writing on the wall. They have nothing to show to the people of Telangana except lies, loot and commission! Congress’ guarantees in Telangana and the tremendous affection which we share with the people of the state shall result in justice, welfare and progress. An important meeting of the Central Election Committee for Telangana happened today,” he added.

Party sources said that the rest of the candidates will be finalised at the meeting and in the coming days the leadership will release the second list of candidates.

He also said that during the CEC, the leaders will discuss how to accommodate the senior leaders, who had joined the Congress after quitting the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).

On October 15, the Congress announced a list of 55 candidates for the Telangana Assembly with Dr Kota Neelima being fielded from Sanathanagar Assembly constituency, Jupally Krishna Rao from Kollapur, party's CLP leader Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu from Madhur SC reserved seat.

Polling for the Telangana Assembly will take place on November 30 and counting of votes will take place on December 3.