Ranchi, Dec. 30: The Congress high command has asked Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee (JPCC) president Sushila Kerketta and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Rajendra Prasad Singh to recommend three names each from each of the 50 constituencies from where the party intends to field candidates in the coming Assembly election.

JPCC president Kerketta said all the formalities for the coming Assembly election have been completed. ?All the applications received from those aspiring to contest the election have been sent to the central election committee and also to the All India Congress Committee (AICC),? she said.

The JPCC chief said now that the formalities have been completed, all the applicants should right away go to their respective constituencies and start public relation campaign. She said the feelings and opinions of the applicants would be put forth strongly before the party high command.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has constituted a screening committee for Jharkhand. The committee will be headed by Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Mohsina Kidwai and will comprise another CWC member Makhan Lal Fotedar besides former Union minister G. Venkataswami, AICC in-charge for Jharkhand Harikesh Bahadur, JPCC president Sushila Kerketta and CLP leader Rajendra Prasad Singh.

AICC leader R.P.N. Singh during his visit to Ranchi had asked the district unit presidents to shortlist 3-5 applications from their respective districts. Singh has already taken away those shortlisted applications with him.

All the MPS have been asked to give one name of a woman candidate.

The screening committee will go through all the papers of the applicants and decide on the candidate.

Meanwhile, sources said the preliminary round of talks between the Congress, JMM and RJD has already begun but the final and decisive round will be held only after the JMM?s central working committee meeting to be held in Jamshedpur tomorrow.

According to sources, a concrete picture of the seat-sharing formula between the allies will emerge only in the second week of January.

?The future of the alliance will depend mostly on the approach of the JMM and the RJD. There is a tussle between Congress and JMM over the number of seats each wants to contest,? a senior party leader said.

The RJD, which was not interested in Jharkhand initially, too has started nurturing ambitions these days after the JD(U) rebel MLAs joined the party, he added.

RJD?s contention is that with four MLAs in its fold, it has 12 MLAs in the Jharkhand Assembly, and therefore it is the biggest Opposition party in the state. In this situation, it cannot remain content with ?just a few? seats.

Sources said RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav has spoken to Kerketta and Singh in this regard.

?It will be a Herculean task for the Congress to strike a balance between the growing ambition of all the parties and the reality at the ground level. Being the big brother, I think this is the biggest challenge before the party,? the leader said.