india

Updated: Jun 20, 2019 02:54 IST

After coming a distant second in Delhi in the recent Lok Sabha polls, the Congress has decided to start preparations for the state assembly polls slated for January-February next year.

From starting the process of finalising candidates in all constituencies to holding weekly meetings with local units, the party is going all out to better its performance.

Senior party leaders said the party’s state unit president Sheila Dikshit has started meeting local units.

“We wanted to start early so that we can reach out to voters and plan our campaigns thoroughly. Last polls, we lost a lot of time because of the talks of an alliance,” Delhi Congress spokesperson Jitender Kochar said.

Last week, in a meeting with local leaders, Dikshit had asked for a list of three probables, including a woman, from each of the 70 assembly constituencies.

“All district and block committees have been asked to submit lists from their constituencies latest by June 22 so that the process of finalising candidates can be completed at the earliest,” he said.

The party wants to finalise and announce candidates from all seats by late July.

Despite fielding bigwigs in the recent Lok Sabha polls, the Congress lost to the BJP in all seven constituencies in Delhi—East, South, North East, North West, West, New Delhi and Chandni Chowk—with a margin of more than two lakh votes on all seats