BENGALURU: THE line-up of aspirants for Congress tickets to contest the forthcoming Legislative Assembly election in the state has crossed the 1,000th mark and the KPCC office is witnessing high demand for tickets, especially for the 28 Assembly constituencies in Bengaluru city.As on Friday, Rajajinagar constituency in Bengaluru tops the list with 18 ticket aspirants obtaining the applications, which are being issued from February 26 at the KPCC office on Queen’s Road.
“Eight applications have been taken by ticket seekers from Benglauru South constituency,” a senior KPCC functionary told The New Indian Express.Shantinagar constituency, which is represented by NA Haris, is drawing attention in the wake of his son Mohammed Nalapad Haris’s assault case.According to sources, no one has so far taken applications seeking ticket from the constituency.
However, a senior party leader told Express late on Friday evening that one application has been issued for an aspirant from Shantinagar.The applications will be sold till March 5 with March 10 being the last date for submitting the filled applications forms.“There is a possibility of extending this deadline,” the KPCC functionary said.
Congress is witnessing a big surge in women aspirants too as about 150 women from General Category have obtained the application forms and their number from the SC and ST community too is quite high, sources said.Most of the applicants are first-time contenders as the sitting and former MLAs are expected to obtain the application forms just one or two days before the deadline.
The applications are being sold at a price of `100 and the party has fixed high application submission fee, which is `1 lakh for ministers, `50,000 for MLAs, MLCs, MPs, `25,000 for former MLAs, MLCs, MPs, `20,000 for General Category and `15,000 for SC and ST communities.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, KPCC President G Parameshwara defended the high application submission fee by stating that the amount collected will be used for completing the Annexe Building of the KPCC Head Office.“This will instill a sense of belonging and ownership of the party office building among the ticket aspirants,” he said.