About 1500 candidates of the Opposition Congress in Haryana have submitted applications seeking ticket to contest the 2024 Haryana Legislative Assembly elections scheduled to be held in October this year. Aspirants from all the 90 Constituencies have submitted applications seeking tickets. The last date of submission of applications is July 31.

Talking to ‘The Pioneer’, Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee Media head Kewal Dhingra said that about 1500 forms have been received from ticket aspirants so far. About 500 more applications are likely to receive from the ticket aspirants within the next two days, he added.

Dhingra said that the Congress party had won five of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana recently. “From 28 per cent in 2019 to beyond 44 per cent, we have had a significant increase in vote share. There is a wind of change in the Congress party’s favour. The people of Haryana want a Congress government in the State. Overwhelming response also indicates that the party is on a good wicket and this is also because the workers sense the party has a good chance of retaining power. It is indeed a positive and encouraging sign.”

Party insiders said that this is much higher compared to the response the party generated in 2019. Large number of women party workers has also applied for poll tickets. There was also good response for the SC reserved seats. The number of applications from constituencies where thee party has sitting MLAs were about four or five on an average. Out of the current 29 Congress MLAs, 17 have already submitted their applications to get tickets again. Former Chief Minister Bhupendra Singh Hooda has not yet submitted his application. Maximum applications are received from those assembly seats where Congress does not have sitting MLAs. There are many contenders who had applied for tickets in the Lok Sabha elections, but could not get the ticket, they have also staked claim for the ticket in the Assembly elections.

Out of 90 Assembly seats in the State, 17 are reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates. The number of ticket applicants for Assembly seats reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates in the State is very high. 30 to 40 ticket applicants have submitted their application for each reserved seat. For Nilokheri SC reserved seat, about 40 applications have been received so far. The party has also roped in a private agency to verify credentials of new applicants, sources added.

In early preparation for Assembly polls, the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee has called for applications as it planned to finalise the list of candidates few weeks ahead of the announcement of Vidhan Sabha election date by the Election Commission of India. Of all the political parties, the Congress is the only one that charges a fee for filing an application for the Assembly ticket in Haryana. The application fee is Rs 20,000 for general category seats. Women aspirants and those from the Scheduled Caste and backward communities need to shell out Rs 5,000 each. However, there is no fee for the ticket seekers in the BJP, AAP, INLD and the JJP.

On this, a senior Congress leader said that the party has decided to introduce a fee to ensure that only serious candidates submit the applications for the ticket. It will make it easier to scrutinise the applications,” he said, adding that obviously it would also be helpful in generating funds for the party.

While the BJP has a two-way system of nomination, which involves recommendation from the district unit and also from the party state unit, the INLD invites applications from aspirants for the ticket. A BJP leader said that the party has a vibrant and inclusive system to select the nominees for the ticket. “We have a system of forming a panel on the basis of the recommendations of the district units which went up to the state and national leadership for a final decision,” he added.

The regional outfits- the INLD and JJP are yet to start their process of the identification of the candidates in the Assembly elections. The INLD leader said they didn’t have any fee for the ticket though the party has a membership fee of Rs 25 whereas the JJP leader said the party had disbanded its district units and was now restructuring the units across the state. The party though has a membership fee of Rs 10.

Talking to journalists, former Chief Minister Bhupendra Singh Hooda recently said that the Congress party will give tickets to loyal, dedicated and winning candidates. Only one person will get a ticket on one Assembly seat and remaining aspirants will work to make the Party's candidate win. There is huge enthusiasm among the party workers and people at large and this time, Congress is going to form a Government with full majority in the state, he added.