Karnataka polls: Sky high application fee doesn’t deter Congress aspirants from seeking tickets

The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee office located on Queen's Road, Bengaluru is buzzing with activity. As the screening committee goes over scores of applications, there is also talk about the application fee structure.

The applications this year were sold at Rs 100 each. The application submission fee too is on the higher side and the party says that the amount raised would be used to complete the annexe building of the KPCC head office.

The application submission fee has been fixed at Rs 1 lakh for ministers and Rs 50,000 for MLAs, MLC's and MPs. For the former MLAs, MPs and MLCs the fee has been fixed at Rs 25,000. A fee of Rs 20,000 has been fixed for the General Category and in the case of SC/ST it is Rs 15,000.

The Congress has sent down its senior leader, Madhusudhan Mistry to undertake the screening process. The process for him has been a cumbersome one as the number of applicants has crossed the 1,100 mark already.

He has been screening the applications and also conducting one on one interviews with the aspirants. He has questions even for those ministers who are re-contesting the elections. A Congress leader informed that they want to ensure that tickets are given only to winning candidates. Even if there is an iota of doubt about the candidate, the same is being rejected, the leader also said. The Congress feels that it is in with a chance in Karnataka and hence wants to ensure that the entire screening process is fool-proof.

OneIndia News