All India Congress Committee for Rajasthan formula in selection of candidates

HYDERABAD: All-India Congress Committee (AICC) is planning to implement a new formula for selecting candidates in Telangana for the coming elections.  In discussions held with Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) leaders, the AICC has proposed the Rajasthan formula in selections of candidates. According to this formula, if anyone applies for party ticket, his name should be proposed by 10 party workers from each pol-ling booth of that constituency.

For example, if a constituency has 100 polling booths, 2,000 workers have to propose his name. The ticket aspiring candidate should send the details of each proposer such as Aadhaar card, voter card, residence address and cellnumber, his position in the party and others along with the application.  To scrutinise these applications, the AICC will appoint a committee. The committee will inquire whether the details given by the applicants are correct or wrong.

A Telangana Congress senior leader said that this process will be only for fresh candidates where senior and strong candidates are not available. In Telangana, there are 119 Assembly constituencies. Out of this, about 60 to 70 constituencies have senior leaders.  In some constituencies, there are leaders who had contested two to three ti-mes to the Assembly. After AICC president Rahul Gandhi’s ‘youth mantra’, several young Congress leaders are aspiring party tickets in the ensuing Assembly elections. 

Generally, the aspirants try for tickets through a senior leader. Now the recommendations of senior leaders are getting less importance in the new system.  In any constituency, there are more than one applicant. The committee will inquire about all the candidates and on priority basis, recommend this to the High Command. When this proposal came, the senior leaders were worried whether they will have to follow the same procedure. After understanding that the new system may not be applicable to seniors, they are relieved. 

“To reduce the rush for tickets, particularly from the youth, this system will help,” a TPCC leader said. According to Congress leaders, around 25 constituencies need strong leaders to contest in the elections. AICC may start calling applications from the month of June.

- 10 workers from each polling booth should propose the candidate.
- High Command will appoint a committee for scrutiny of applications.

- TPCC leaders says this new system is only for fresh candidates, not for seniors.