Himachal elections: Four-fold increase in number of Congress ticket aspirants

1,347 apply for Congress ticket for 68 seats in Himachal Pradesh, while only 400 applied for the party ticket in 2017. This year , no fee was charged with the application unlike the ₹25,000 non-refundable fee taken last time

The Congress has seen a four-fold increase in the number of ticket applicants for the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections scheduled this year-end as compared to the 2017 polls largely because this time

All India Congress Committee chairman, media and publicity, Pawan Khera addressing a press conference at the Himachal Pradesh Congress office, Rajiv Bhawan, Shimla, on Friday. He was accompanied by state unit chief Pratibha Singh (extreme right) and party leaders Alka Lamba and Supriya Shrinate. (Deepak Sansta/HT)

A total of 1,347 aspirants applied for the Congress ticket for 68 seats, an average of 19 contenders for each ticket, till the deadline ended at 5pm on Thursday. In the 2017 elections, 400 candidates had filed applications for the party ticket.

“Of the 1,347 applications, 677 were submitted online and 670 offline,” Congress state media cell chairman Naresh Chauhan said, adding “This time, applications were invited without a fee. Previously, ₹25,000 non-refundable fee was charged from each applicant.”

The 20-member state Congress election committee will meet in Delhi on September 5 to finalise the list of candidates for the assembly elections. The deadline for filing applications was 5pm on Thursday. Chauhan said the applications will be scrutinised from September 2 to 4.

Of the 68 assembly seats, 17 are reserved for Scheduled Caste and three for Scheduled Tribes.

Chauhan said the highest number of 40 applications was received for Shimla (Urban) seat, represented by urban development minister Suresh Bhardwaj, who has won three consecutive elections from here in 2007, 2012 and 2017. The Congress last won the seat in 2003.

The meeting on probable candidates will be presided over by AICC in-charge for Himachal Rajeev Shukla in Delhi.

The screening committee headed by Deepa Dass Munshi after finalising the names will send a list to the national election committee. It is likely that the national panel will release the first list of candidates by September-end.

Himachal Congress president Pratibha Singh; election campaign committee chairman Sukhwinder Sukhu, leader of opposition Mukesh Agnihotri besides other senior leaders Asha Kumari and Viplove Thakur are likely to attend the Delhi meeting.