Preparing for the Lok Sabha elections on a war footing, Congress today decided that a panel of party's contestants for each parliamentary constituency in the country would be prepared by the end of January so that candidates can be announced in early February.

Party president Sonia Gandhi [Images] today asked party leaders to follow a time-frame for preparing the panel of names for each seat.

"The Pradesh Election Committees have been asked to send the names of candidates by the end of January so that the names could be announced in early February," a source said.

Sonia also asked state units to desist from sending a single line resolution authorising her to choose the candidates.

She held a meeting with party general secretaries as also CWC members in-charge of states, asked them to ensure that pradesh election committees were in place at the earliest.

Sonia also wanted that the screening committees be constituted at the AICC level in each state which should be asked to send a panel of a maximum of three names for seats where there was no unanimity.

Besides most of the general secretaries, senior leader A K Antony, who is in-charge of party affairs in Maharashtra, was also present during the meeting.

Antony had headed a high-level party committee last year which made a series of recommendations to gear up the party for elections. The Antony Committee had wanted the party to decide the tickets well in advance to avoid the last-minute chaos and confusion.