Assembly And LS Polls In Odisha: Congress Begins Screening Of Application For Party Tickets
Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the 2024 Assembly polls in the state, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee on Saturday started screening of applications of party ticket aspirants. As per official sources, the OPCC has received online applications from nearly 2,500 aspirants for the 147 constituencies in Odisha.
Assembly elections in Odisha will be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls later this year.
Earlier, the AICC Odisha in-charge Ajoy Kumar had launched a portal to facilitate aspirants to apply for party tickets for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Odisha.
The Congress leader claimed that the online system has been adopted to maintain transparency in the ticket distribution for the upcoming general elections.
OPCC president Sarat Pattnayak said, “A new formula has been made to maintain transparency and give scope to all to apply for Congress tickets. A lot of influential people have also applied. We have around 2,500 applicants for 147 Assembly constituencies and around 500 aspirants for 21 Lok Sabha seats.”
Pattanayak said that one-to-one discussion is being done with the aspirants and a seven-day task is given to them which will be evaluated by the Congress team. The last date to apply for a Congress ticket is tomorrow and based on the tasks including organisation, political works, and other parameters, applications will be reviewed.
Meanwhile, the Congress in-charge Ajoy Kumar took an indirect jibe at the Tamil Nadu-born bureaucrat-turned-BJD politician V K Pandian for his growing influence on the state administration. He said, “At present ‘PTN’ (Pandian from Tamil Nadu) trend is going on. Like Paytm, PTN will also stop in Odisha.”
“In fact, it is a matter of concern that one PTN is running the show in Odisha. All Odias should now come forward to safeguard their self-esteem and honour. Around 30 lakh people from the state are moving outside looking for jobs, while 30 industrialists from Tamil Nadu are setting up steel plants. It is in the hands of the people and they need to think about this as people from other states are getting contracts here,” said Kumar.
