The Congress has set up a 12-member panel to oversee the election campaign management and coordination ahead of assembly elections in four states and a Union Territory, an official statement from the party said.
Four states — Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal – along with Puducherry are scheduled to go to polls before May this year.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and senior party leaders Mukul Wanki and Shakeel Ahmad Khan have been named by the party as senior observers for Assam. In Kerala, according to the release, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, former Goa Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro and former Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara will take over.
Former Karnataka CM Veerappa Moily will oversee the election preparedness in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, along with Pallam Raju and Nitin Raut, the statement said. BK Hariprasad, Alamgir Alam and Vijay Inder Singla have been named in West Bengal, it said.
The leaders shall work with the Secretaries-General to oversee the arrangements for the elections. They are all senior leaders who will monitor election management,” party general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal said.
The party statement said Congress President Sonia Gandhi named the leaders as senior observers to monitor the management and planning of the election campaign in states where assembly elections will take place in 2021. Their nomination is effective immediately. In close cooperation with AICC General Secretaries and in-charges in the relevant state, they will discharge their duties. The party said. The party faces an uphill task after it suffered a drubbing in the Bihar assembly elections in November, where it only won 19 seats of the 70 seats it contested.
The outcome of the Bihar polls has caused other steps to be taken by the group, including an outreach campaign to win back women voters.
