New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has appointed Qazi Mohammad Nizamuddin, an MLA from Uttarakhand's Manglaur constituency, as the in-charge of the party's Delhi unit -- a move that is being seen as a part of the preparations of the grand old party ahead of the Assembly elections next year.

A statement issued on Sunday by Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal read: "The Congress President has appointed Qazi Mohammad Nizamuddin as the All Indian Congress Committee In-charge of Delhi with immediate effect."

"The party appreciates the contributions of Deepak Babaria as the General Secretary In-charge of Delhi," it further read.

Besides, Kharge has also constituted the Screening Committee for the upcoming Assembly elections in Delhi.

The members of the Screening Committee for Delhi include Meenakshi Natarajan - Chairperson; Imran Masood - Member and Pradeep Narwal - Member, the statement released by Venugopal read.

"AICC In-charge, PCC President and all AICC Secretaries In-charge of Delhi will be ex-officio members of the screening Committee," the statement noted.

The election for all 70 Assembly constituencies in Delhi is scheduled to be held next year.

The last Assembly elections were held in February 2020, which saw the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) retaining power in Delhi for the second consecutive time.

Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal then became the Chief Minister for a third term, with the second term being his full-fledged tenure in office as CM after a short-lived stay as chief minister during his first term.

In the 2020 Assembly elections, the AAP emerged as the single largest party by winning 62 out of 70 seats with a landslide victory.

Kejriwal, however, stepped down as chief minister after walking out of prison earlier this year in connection with the Delhi excise policy matter.

Following Kejriwal's resignation, his Cabinet colleague Atishi Marlena was named the new Chief Minister of Delhi.

Marlena became the third woman chief minister of Delhi after Congress' Sheila Dikshit and BJP's Sushma Swaraj.