Ahmedabad, March 14 (IANS) With an emphasis on giving greater space to younger leaders in the upcoming local body elections, the Gujarat Congress unit held a series of strategy meetings of its newly formed election committees in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
The meetings, attended by State Congress In-charge and Rajya Sabha MP Mukul Wasnik, reviewed organisational preparations for the elections, including coordination between various committees, the process of selecting candidates and planning the campaign across the state.
According to party sources, the deliberations lasted about five hours, with each committee holding separate sessions.
"The meetings were the first since the committees were constituted, and members were given guidance on their roles and responsibilities," a senior party leader told IANS.
Party sources said three to four additional meetings are planned in the coming weeks, with the next meeting expected towards the end of the month, while the state leadership will also hold virtual meetings to review preparations.
Wasnik said the upcoming local elections were important for the party and that preparations are being carried out through coordinated organisational planning.
"These elections are extremely important for the Congress and we will enter the field with a strong strategy through coordination between the organisation, leaders and workers," he said, adding that various committees had been formed across the state to ensure systematic planning.
The committees constituted for the elections include the Strategy Committee, Campaign Committee, Programme Implementation Committee, Election Management Committee, Manifesto Committee, Media Committee and Publicity Committee.
Apart from the chairman, vice-chairman and convener, each committee will have around 15 to 20 members assisting in coordination and implementation of tasks, party sources said.
Discussions during the meetings also included a zone-wise approach to election preparations and a focus on different sectors during outreach activities.
Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee President Amit Chavda said the party had also initiated steps to encourage wider participation from society in the elections.
"For the upcoming local self-government elections, the Congress has taken a special initiative to encourage good, dedicated and honest people from society to enter politics," he added.
Arrangements had been made in metropolitan areas for aspirants to apply through QR codes so that "individuals engaged in public life, those working on people's issues and those wishing to contest elections with the party's ideology could submit applications directly".
At the same time, the party organisation is conducting hearings with potential candidates at the city, district and taluka levels in the presence of regional observers.
Party sources said the candidate selection process would place significant emphasis on younger leaders, with nearly half of the tickets expected to be allotted to candidates below the age of 50.
--IANS
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