Deepender Deswal

Hisar, July 25

Of all the political parties, the Congress is the only one which charges a fee for filing an application for the Assembly ticket in Haryana.

The Congress has put a fee of Rs 20,000 for the ticket aspirants applying to the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee in the general category. 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.

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.

Only serious candidates apply

The party has decided to introduce a fee to ensure that only serious candidates submit the application for the ticket. It will make it easier to scrutinise the applications. — Bajrang Das Garg, Congress spokesperson

Congress spokesperson Bajrang Das Garg said they had so far received about 1,200 forms from ticket aspirants. "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.

BJP state secretary Capt Bhupender Singh said they had a system of forming penal on the basis of the recommendations of the district units which went up to the state and national leadership for a final decision. "The party has a vibrant and inclusive system to select the nominees for the ticket", he said.

The AAP has also made no such system for the ticket aspirant. AAP leader Umesh Sharma said the party had compiled the list of the aspirants recently. "The party leadership has been keenly observing the works and activities of all aspirants. The further decisions will be taken by the party leadership after assessment on the basis of the performance of the aspirants on the ground," he said.

The regional outfits- the INLD and JJP are yet to start their process of the identification of the candidates in the Assembly elections. INLD spokesperson Rakesh Sihag said they didn't impose a fee on applicants for the ticket though the party has a membership fee of Rs 25 only. "The INLD and the BSP are in alliance for the Assembly elections. So both the parties are in the process of streamlining the coordination of the party workers across the state. Next, we will identify the seats which will be allotted to the two alliance partners and afterwards the process for selection of candidates will start," he said.

JJP spokesperson Deepkamal Saharan said the party had disbanded its district units and was now restructuring the units across the state. "It will take some more time to start the process of identification of the aspirants for the tickets. But we have no plans to levy fees for the aspirants," he said. The party though has a membership fee of Rs 10.