Bengaluru: Congress Legislature Party Leader and former Chief Minister Siddharamaiah has said that the first list of Congress party candidates for the forthcoming Assembly elections in the State is likely to be announced on Mar. 17. Siddharamaiah was speaking to press persons at Davangere yesterday.

“The ability to win will be the basic yardstick for the selection of party candidates. The Central Election Committee meeting of the Congress party will be held on Mar. 17 and the first list of party candidates is likely to be announced on the same day,” said the former Chief Minister, who is also the Opposition Leader in the Assembly.

It may be recalled here that Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President D.K. Shivakumar had said a few days back the Screening Committee has reviewed the list of party ticket aspirants and will soon send its recommendations to All India Congress Committee (AICC).

The Congress is eyeing to win a minimum of 150 seats in the 224-member Karnataka Legislative Assembly. In the last Assembly elections held in 2018, BJP had won 104 seats, Congress 78 and JD(S) 37 seats.

JD(S) has already announced its first list of 90 candidates while the BJP and Congress are yet announce their list even as all the three major political parties have launched a vigorous and full-fledged campaign.

BJP’s Vijaya Sankalpa Yatra, Congress’s Prajadvani Yatra and JD(S)’s Pancharatna Yatra are traversing across the State to lure voters with attractive pre-poll promises.

Meanwhile, a delegation of Central Election Commission (CEC) was on a 3-day visit to the State to review the poll preparations had expressed its readiness to hold the elections in the State.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar had convened a press conference at Vidhana Soudha and shared information about the measures being taken by the CEC to conduct a free and fair election in the State and also disclosed that for first time, persons aged above 80 years and physically challenged can vote from the comforts of their home.

Rajiv Kumar assured that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) cannot be tampered by anybody and they will not be changed, he said while rejecting the appeal of Congress party that EVMs used in recently held Gujarat Assembly polls should not be used in Karnataka State Assembly polls.