New Delhi: With just a little over a month left for the Delhi Assembly elections, the ruling Congress is still unable to announce a list of probable candidates as the fear of defections looms large.

Facing anti-incumbency, the Congress is trying to find the right candidates in many seats, especially where smaller parties like BSP and LJP are contesting against it.

The LJP and BSP, which have a support base among Dalits, Muslims ande people from Bihar and eastern UP, can dent the grand old party s traditional vote-bank.

"For the past three months, we are working hard to finalise tickets but since we have two senior party leaders for one constituency in many segments, the meetings are held regularly to decide on the possible names," a senior Congress leader said.

The delimitation has made the task of finalising the list of 70 names even more difficult as as some seats such as Jangpura, Sadar Bazar, Tri Nagar and Malviya Nagar have many stalwarts vying for them.

One of the senior leaders affected is Health Minister Yoganand Shastri. A large part of his Malviya Nagar constituency has gone to Hauz Khas where Congress MLA Kiran Walia had won last time.

Besides, remaining parts of Shastri s areas have been merged with Greater Kailash.

Similarly, Congress MLAs Tajddar Babbar and Tarvinder Marwah have interests in the same constituencies as after the delimitation, a large chunk of the former s Minto Road constituency is now in Marwah s Jungpura area.
Source : PTI