Having given a “fresh look” to its state units by changing PCC presidents in as many as 16 states in the past year — with three more states about to get new PCC chiefs shortly — the Congress has set out to drastically revamp its candidate selection process by declaring them well in advance of LS and Assembly elections.

The ruling party is in the process of implementing the recommendations of the high profile think tank, Group to Look into Future Challenges, that has suggested that party candidates should be declared two months before the Assembly election and three months ahead of the Lok Sabha election, said Congress sources.

To this end, the Congress has decided to complete the process of identifying candidates for the forthcoming Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi by mid-September, said sources. Screening committees to select candidates for these states have been constituted and the committee members have started visiting the respective states to get feedback about shortlisted candidates. “Within a week of the Election Commission issuing notification for the elections, we will declare our candidates,” said a senior party leader involved in the exercise.

Under the existing practice the ruling party usually declares its candidates right up to the last day of filing nomination papers. The last Assembly election in Karnataka witnessed a candidate being flown by helicopter from Bangalore to Hubli and then being driven to his constituency to replace the official party candidate minutes before the closing of the process of filing nomination papers.

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