New Delhi, Ahead of the assembly elections in five states, the Congress President Sonia Gandhi has reportedly sought latest reports from the party presidents in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Mizoram and Delhi about the electoral prospects of the party in the respective states.

The Congress president has also directed the central election committee to finalize the names of candidates by next weekend so as to give ample time to the candidates to campaign in their respective constituencies. In the directive, a party source says, Gandhi has asked them to give constituency-wise details of the states that would go to polls next month.

Congress leadership hopes to win back Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. It is however doubtful of Delhi as the incumbent Congress government led by Sheila Dixit is facing a strong anti-incumbency factor, which may cost the party dearly. On the contrary, chief minister Dixit has in a report sent to the party president said the party could easily win the elections for the third consecutive term provided there is a unity within the party in the state. Following her report that was submitted last month, Congress president had asked leaders of all the factions of the party in the state not to indulge in factional fighting till the elections are over. They have also been asked to present a united face of the party to win the elections.

Similar directives have also been sent other poll-bound states particularly to the Madhya Pradesh Congress where leaders belonging to different factions are fighting against the present state party chief Suresh Pachouri who has been sent from the center to lead the party. Congress has pinned its hopes on the strong anti-incumbency and charges of corruption leveled against the incumbent chief minister Shivraj Singh Chavan.

The failure of Raman Singh government in countering Maoist violence has raised the electoral graph of Congress in Chhattisgarh. The Congress has been accusing the state government of misusing the central assistance, which is given to it time to time to fight Maoists. In Rajasthan also Congress is banking on anti-incumbency factor that the Vasundhara Raje Scindia has been facing. In Mizoram, however, reports suggest that Mizo National Front might come back to power.

EMAIL THIS NEWS COMMENTS No comments yet