Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee on Friday released a five-page performa for taking application from party leaders who aspire to fight the coming assembly polls from Congress ticket.

HPCC president Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu announced the process of application in a press conference and said that the party would start accepting application of aspiring candidates from Saturday.

He said that every party aspirant would have to fill the performa and submit it to the HPCC till Oct 5 along with candidate fee of Rs 25,000. The fee would be Rs 15,000 for SC and ST candidates. This requirement of applying for a party ticket would be application to all, including the cabinet ministers in the state and only HPCC Chief and Chief Minister have been exempted from this requirement.

Sukhu said that the AICC would decide on its own about the candidature of the two exempted leaders. He said applications are being invited on the directions of AICC as the party wish to pitch the best suitable candidate for the electoral battle.

The Himachal Congress chief made it clear that all those candidates who were expelled by the party would not be eligible to get tickets. He said the candidature of ticket-seekers would be considered on their capacity, performance and effectiveness.

He also said that party is also keen to know that how many applicants from the Opposition parties come forward to  fight election on a Congress ticket however their applications would be considered by the party state unit and AICC on merit.

Sukhu said leaders, who at some point of time turned rebel for the party, would have to mention the information in the application performa as to when did they fight election against the party candidate. However, he said that their applications would be considered on the basis of other merits.