Lucknow, Apr 12 (IANS): Always known to lag behind other parties in declaring candidates for elections, the Congress in Uttar Pradesh has taken a lead this time by announcing candidates for 15 wards of Lucknow.

Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Brijlal Khabri said, "Yes, we have shortlisted candidates for all the seats in 17 municipal corporations, 199 municipal boards (Nagar Palika Parishad) and 544 town areas (Nagar Panchayats) of the state. Though a list of the party's organisational teams is yet to be released, we have informed the new office-bearers about the work allocation through phone."

The Congress is making a desperate bid to improve its performance and make the party an important player in the urban local bodies polls, scheduled on May 4 and 11 in Uttar Pradesh.

At present, poor organisational structure at different levels poses a big challenge for the party as it is still in the process of constituting teams at state, zonal and district levels for the urban local body elections.

Meanwhile, a scrutiny of performance of different political parties indicates that the Congress had put up a poor show in 2017 urban local body elections. The Congress had failed to win any seat of Mayor in the state with 17 municipal corporations.

The UP Congress has also opened a 'war room' on the premises of its headquarters in Lucknow to organise and monitor the ongoing month-long 'Jai Bharat Satyagraha' campaign in the state. The initiative is a part of the pan-India drive launched by the party on March 29.