New Delhi, 04 January (H.S.): Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra assumed the role of chairperson for the party's screening committee tasked with selecting candidates for the 2026 Assam assembly elections, as announced in an All India Congress Committee (AICC) notification on Saturday night.

AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal disclosed the formation of four-member panels across five poll-bound regions—Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry—to streamline candidate finalization ahead of the first-half 2026 polls.

For Assam, Vadra will collaborate with MPs Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, Imran Masood, and Sirivella Prasad, elevating national leadership in a fiercely contested northeastern bastion.

Parallel committees feature Madhusudan Mistry heading Kerala's group alongside Syed Naseer Hussain, Neeraj Dangi, and Abhishek Dutt; T S Singh Deo leading Tamil Nadu and Puducherry's panel with Yashomati Thakur, G C Chandrashekhar, and Anil Kumar Yadav; and B K Hariprasad chairing West Bengal's alongside Mohammad Jawed, Mamta Devi, and B P Singh.

AICC general secretaries/in-charges, PCC presidents, CLP leaders, and attached secretaries serve as ex-officio members for their states, fortifying organizational rigor. This strategic shuffle underscores Congress's bid to reclaim ground from BJP in Assam, where the current assembly's term expires May 20, 2026.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar