Party tickets were sold in Karnataka: Alva

New Delhi, Nov 6 (UNI) Congress General Secretary Margaret Alva today alleged that some leaders had sold party tickets during the Karnataka Assembly elections, and said the guidelines forbidding distribution of tickets to relatives were not being implemented in the six States going to the polls later this year.

In an interview to NDTV India, she said party leaders from outside Karnataka distributed tickets based on their own agenda.

''Some people sold tickets in Karnataka, but all these people lost the elections,'' she said and added that the Congress was itself to blame for its defeat in the May Assembly elections in the State.

''I am saying this openly that those who didn't have any knowledge of the constituencies or the local sentiments ended up deciding candidates (in Karnataka). When it comes to their own States, they say we are the leaders. We will decide.... Why was the principle not implemented in Karnataka'' she asked.

She accused the party leaders of having double standards on the issue of giving party tickets to relatives.

''Right now, each family is getting two-three tickets. The guidelines are not being implemented in the six States going to the polls in the near future,'' she said.

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