In election mode, Cong sets up new CEC team

DAYS after the Mumbai meeting of the INDIA bloc, the Congress on Monday got into a poll overdrive announcing three crucial decisions.

- PREETHA NAIR

While Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge called for the first meeting of the newly constituted Congress Working Committee on September 16 in Hyderabad, the party president also constituted a 16-member Central Election Committee, which will decide the candidates for Lok Sabha elections.

Meanwhile, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi has convened a meeting of the party's Parliamentary Strategy group on Tuesday ahead of the upcoming special session of Parliament. It was learnt that the meeting will discuss issues to be raised during the special session. The Congress president also called a meeting of MPs of the INDIA alliance to discuss the strategy for the special parliamentary session.

Sources said that the leaders may deliberate on the eight-member panel notified by the Centre on Saturday to examine and make recommendations for holding simultaneous elections in the country.