CHANDIGARH: In a bid to fill its empty coffers, the Haryana unit of the Congress has decided to charge people who wish to apply for party tickets for the upcoming assembly elections.
The party ticket is priced at Rs 5000 for general category and Rs 2000 for SC category.
Sources said that the party has decided that all the leaders who want to fight in the polls will have to send formal applications in a specific format apart from shelling out the fees.
All the sitting MLAs and former legislators will have to pay the fees besides those who wish to apply for tickets.
A party leader said that as of now there are anywhere between 900 to 1000 party ticket aspirants for the 90 assembly seats thus the party is expected to get around Rs 50 lakh as a donation. Due to alleged infighting, the party couldn't garner any donations in the last few years. The party has still not decided if those who contested in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections would be eligible for the state assembly polls.
The fee which has to be deposited in the party’s fund has been brought down from Rs 10,000 from the last elections. But the newly elected state unit chief of the party Kumari Selja wanted to totally abolish this fee, said sources.
It is learnt that no deadline has been set by the party for getting the applications from the ticket aspirants which they can send to the party office in Chandigarh or to Kumari Selja at Delhi and can even email them. "While selecting a candidate, winnability, social equations and one’s standing will be the main factors taken into consideration by the screening committee formed by the party,’’ said a leader.