Congress appoints coordinators for 539 Lok Sabha seats

PTI, Jan 8, 2024, 8:03 AM IST

New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday released a list of coordinators for 539 Lok Sabha constituencies who will assess the political situation in their respective areas and give feedback to the leadership.

The announcement comes as the principal opposition party steps up preparations for the Lok Sabha polls.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “The Congress party has just released the list of coordinators covering 539 Parliamentary constituencies with 4 more to come soon.”

Hon’ble Congress President has approved the proposal for the appointment of Parliament Constituency Wise Coordinators for the upcoming General elections, 2024, as enclosed, with immediate effect. pic.twitter.com/lPJcI7v3wl

— INC Sandesh (@INCSandesh) January 7, 2024

At a press conference on Saturday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had said that the party would decide in the coming days on how many seats it would contest but in all the 500-plus constituencies, it had finalised its observers.

He said the exact number of seats would be known only after negotiations with I.N.D.I.A bloc partners.

“We are trying to put our efforts everywhere, because today we are thinking we are getting ‘A’ seat but our alliance partners may not agree and say that ‘you take ‘C’ seat’. Therefore, we are putting observers in each constituency,” Kharge had said.

“They will get access in each parliamentary constituency and ultimately when the ‘I.N.D.I.A Alliance’ is there, then; when negotiation we will have in each state then the exact number will come out.”

“But we are trying to put our efforts everywhere, because today we are thinking we are getting ‘A’ seat. Suppose our alliance partners don’t agree that you take the ‘C’ seat. Therefore, we are putting observers in each constituency,” Kharge had said.

He said leaders of I.N.D.I.A parties would take a decision within 10-15 days on the allocation of posts in the opposition bloc, remarks that came amid speculation that the alliance could pick a convener ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Congress president Kharge has approved the proposal for the appointment of parliamentary constituency-wise coordinators for the upcoming General elections with immediate effect, a statement said along with the list of coordinators in 539 constituencies.

Formal negotiations for seat-sharing with the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab and Delhi will begin on Monday, according to party sources, adding that the process of talks with some parties has begun.

The Congress’ five-member committee on seat-sharing – which has Mukul Wasnik as convener and senior leaders Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel among members – has already held internal consultations with state Congress chiefs and handed over its findings to party chief Kharge.

In another development, the Congress also constituted the Pradesh Election Committee of Assam with Bhupen Borah as its chairman and Debabrata Saikia as vice chairman.

The committee has 38 members besides four ex-officio members.

The Congress also appointed six vice presidents, seven general secretaries and 19 secretaries to the Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee.

The party also appointed a treasurer and 41 executive members in its Tripura unit which is headed by Asish Saha.