Starting the process of selection of candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, due this year-end, the Congress has started inviting applications from the aspirants planning to contest polls.
In a unique exercise, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh, Deepak Babaria, declared that anybody can apply for a Congress ticket for the forthcoming Assembly elections, provided he deposits a bank demand draft of Rs 50,000 in favour of Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee.
He said the state unit of the Congress party is undergoing a resource crunch in the year when polls are to be held. He said such ways are being devised to collect funds in order to match the financial muscle of the BJP, which has its coffers brimming with funds. Babaria said that depositing the requisite amount is not a guarantee to get a party ticket but it will also weed out the non-serious players.
He said that those who wish to apply for a party ticket can send their application and demand draft between March 5 and March 15.
“This way, we will collect funds and discourage non-serious ticket seekers. While the candidates of general caste will have to shell out Rs 50,000, those from the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and women will have to pay only Rs 25,000. In exceptional circumstances, we would waive the fee if we see that the candidate has wide support and is deserving,” Babaria said.
Supporting the move, Congress state president Arun Yadav said, “We will benefit from this scheme in both ways. This will help us collect funds for our campaign against BJP, which has converted electioneering into a money-spending business.”
However, the new 'ticket fees' requirement has not been received very kindly inside the party by many leaders who feel that such a decision will trivialise the whole election process. A senior Congress leader said, “By doing this, we have given the ruling BJP a chance to criticise us. In case not many people come forward with such demand draft, then the whole purpose would be defeated.”
He said Congress had always opposed the use of money in electioneering and this decision will further alienate good people who do not have money.
In another significant move, Babaria said that those aspirants who are above 65 years of age would not get party tickets in the Assembly elections. I have appealed to those leaders who have lost elections a few times but have been MLAs in the past to allow youngsters to contest this time, he said.