All India Congress Committee (AICC) is likely to approve in September the list of party candidates who will contest the upcoming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir and the announcement in this regard is expected to be made in the first week of the month.Sources in the Congress revealed to KNS that the Pradesh Congress Committee has already held deliberations with the party high command over the probable candidates and the prospects of their winning in the upcoming assembly elections. “However, there can be consensus on the list submitted by the PCC only after the high command goes through reports that will be submitted by the party observers who are in the state to meet the ground level party workers,” said a senior Congress leader. A senior minister in the Congress told KNS that the Observers deputed by the Congress high command to get the feedback from the ground have almost completed their tours in different districts of Jammu province and they may be submitting their report to 10 Janpath in New Delhi in the first week of August. “The observers mandated to get the firsthand account of the party workers in different district of Jammu about candidates of their choice have almost concluded their visits. These observers visited Jammu, Kathua, Sambha, Poonch, Udhampur and Reasi. The observers for Udhampur are still stationed in the district and are likely to conclude their visit in few days,” Sham Lal Sharma, senior Congress leader and minister for PHE confirmed to KNS.
However, the Pradesh Congress Committee has sought postponement of the scheduled visit of the observers who were directed by the Congress High Command to visit Kashmir province. “We had requested the AICC through PCC president Prof Saifuddin Soz sahib to postpone the visit of party observers because of the scorching temperatures, month of Ramadhan, Shab-e-Qadr and Eid celebrations. Now the observers are likely to visit the Valley after Eid-ul-Fitr,” Muzaffar Parray vice president Pradesh Congress Committee, told KNS.
The PCC vice president told KNS that he had received calls from various observers who were supposed to visit district Bandipora and Baramulla but he requested them to postpone their visit and informed the PCC chief accordingly. Parray said that the purpose of the observers’ visit is to meet the party workers and get the feedback from the ground. “The observers will be meeting party workers to know about the credentials and footing of the probable candidates ahead of the upcoming assembly elections. These observers will later submit their report to the party high command in New Delhi who will then approve the final list of candidates for the upcoming assembly elections,” Parray informed. (KNS)