Leading Congress leaders travel to election states to maintain unity: report

New Delhi: In Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab, and Manipur, senior Congress leaders were deputed to oversee polling ahead of the results.

According to sources, D K Sivakumar of the Karnataka Congress will serve as the special observer in Goa, and Mukul Wasnik and Chhattisgarh Minister of Health TS Singh Deo will handle post-poll operations in Manipur, according to Press Trust of India.

Party spokesperson Pawan Khera and general secretary Ajay Maken have been assigned as party observers for Punjab, sources say.

Mr Maken has already departed for Chandigarh while Mr Khera has already landed there.

Rajya Sabha member Deepinder Singh Hooda has also left for Dehradun after he was asked by the party leadership to go there for management of legislators during a hung assembly. On March 10, once the results are released, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and Mr Hooda will discuss modalities.Hooda is now in Uttarakhand.

In charge of various polling districts and observers will be stationed at the state headquarters before the results are announced.

This move is intended to keep the Congress flock together in case there is a hung assembly in the states of Goa, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Punjab.

The Congress appointed special observers to help work out the formation of governments in states where there is no clear majority.

The party is also considering relocating its newly elected legislators to safe areas in Congress-ruled states of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.

According to reports, the party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has also seen what arrangements have been made for legislators if they need to be relocated to the desert state.

It was reported that PTI sources said the MLAs will be kept in "safe locations" to prevent possible poaching attempts.

While it won the last Goa elections, it failed to form a government despite being the single largest party.

In Uttarakhand and Goa, exit polls are predicting a tight race, while in Punjab most of them predict Aam Aadmi Party's victory.