Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul and Sonia Gandhi, K J George among 16-member Congress Election Committee

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday reconstituted the grand old party’s crucial Central Election Committee with 16 members after omitting seven leaders, including Manmohan Singh and A K Antony, from the outgoing panel.

The new Congress Election Committee (CEC), which makes the final selection of candidates for state and Lok Sabha elections and conducts campaigns, has 16 members, including Kharge himself and Karnataka minister K J George.

Only Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Ambika Soni and K C Venugopal have been re-drafted into the panel while Singh, Antony, Girija Vyas, Janardhan Dwivedi, Mukul Wasnik, M Veerappa Moily and Mohsina Kidwai have given way to new leaders. The previous panel had 11 members.

Other members of the new panel are Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Salman Khurshid, Madhusudan Mistry, N Uttam Kumar, T S Singh Deo, Pritam Singh, Mohammed Jawed, Amee Yagnik, PL Punia, Omkar Markam and George.

Though seven Congress Working Committee (CWC) members are part of the committee, a number of leaders like P L Punia, and T S Singh Deo who missed membership in the high-powered panel, have been chosen in the election committee.

Singh Deo’s entry comes after he was chosen as Deputy Chief Minister in Chhattisgarh and his Cabinet colleague Tamradhwaj Sahu was drafted into the CWC.

It has also sought to accommodate leaders like N Uttam Kumar Reddy, who are at loggerheads with state party leadership. George is the lone Christian face in the high-powered panel as Antony has gone into retirement mode in politics though he was retained in the CWC.