Shimla: Preparing for the forthcoming General Election, Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee has decided to organise the meeting of State Election Committee on January 21, at Rajiv Bhawan party Shimla office. Meeting will be headed by state party president Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and will shortlist candidates for elections.

HPCC Spokesperson Naresh Chauhan apprised that all the members of State Election Committee will be present at the meeting and will scrutinise the names received for four Lok Sabha seats in the state. “The Election Committee members will deliberate on the names of ticket aspirants for four Lok Sabha seats of the state and it will decide on panel of names for early selection of candidates,” Chauhan said.

Chauhan added that the shortlisted names will be forwarded to Screening Committee and names of candidates for Lok Sabha elections are likely to be finalised by Party High Command by the end of this month.

HPCC Spokesperson said that the process to shortlist names of probable candidates for upcoming General Elections is being initiated on the directions of AICC Vice President Rahul Gandhi as he is keen on declaring candidates early so as to give them at least three months time to prepare for the elections.