Cong CEC meets to finalise candidates for Chhattisgarh, Mizoram assembly polls
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress' Central Election Committee (CEC) held a meeting at the party headquarters here on Thursday to finalise the names of candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Chhattisgarh and Mizoram.
The Congress is the only party which hasn't declared its candidates yet, even though the election dates have been announced.
The BJP has already announced its candidates for a number of assembly seats in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were present during the meeting. Senior Congress leaders, including general secretary K C Venugopal, and CEC members Ambika Soni, Madhusudan Mistry, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and T S Singh Deo also attended the meeting.
Later in a post on X, Kharge said, "People of Mizoram are vying for change. The Congress party has a historic connection with this beautiful state, encompassing peace, development and welfare."
"We are confident that Mizoram shall strengthen the Congress party and give us a chance to serve, like we have (done) in the past. We discussed the political strategy for the ensuing Mizoram Assembly Elections in the Central Election Committee Meeting (CEC) today," he said.
In another post in Hindi, the Congress chief said, "In Chhattisgarh, we have written a new chapter in the 'justice system' in the last five years."
He said the Congress worked for the welfare of villages, poor, farmers, youth, women and all other sections of society.
"Today, a meeting of the Central Election Committee was held regarding Chhattisgarh. In Chhattisgarh... 'Bharosa barkaraar, firse Congress sarkar'," Kharge said.
He also shared pictures of the CEC meeting.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel also attended the meeting.
Taking to X, Baghel said, "Today, I attended the important meeting of the Central Election Committee in Delhi in the presence of Honorable National President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge ji, our leaders Mrs. Sonia Gandhi ji and Shri Rahul Gandhi ji."
Party sources said the CEC would meet again on Friday to finalise the names of candidates for Rajasthan as well as Madhya Pradesh.
Mizoram will to go elections on November 7 and Madhya Pradesh on November 17. Polling will be held in Chhattisgarh in two phases on November 7 and 17.
Rajasthan elections will be held on November 25 and Telangana will go to polls on November 30. The counting of votes for all five states would be taken up on December 3.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
