Lucknow: The Congress has asked those wanting to contest the upcoming assembly elections to deposit a fee of Rs. 11,000 via pay order or DD or RTGS into the account of the UP Congress President and give their application Sanjay Sharma and Vijay Bahadur, according to a memo from Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee President Ajay Kumar Lallu.
The decision was taken in the meeting of the election committee of the party under the leadership of Priyanka Gandhi.
"Sanjay Sharma and Vijay Bahadur have been authorized to collect the applications for the upcoming assembly elections. All applicants can submit their application to the aforementioned people till September 25 along with Rs 11,000 through RTGS, demand draft or pay order. The bank details for the purpose of submitting the amount have also been attached to this letter. This arrangement starts with immediate effect," said the memo.
Elections to the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly are due to be held next year.
The Congress has already finalized about 90 seats for the assembly polls which include those who have been MLAs or prominent party leaders. The Congress has asked its state and district units to start shortlisting names of the probable candidates and after filtration by state election committee a panel will recommend the names to the central election committee.
The party has given a pro forma to be filled by the ticket seekers and has asked various questions including for how long they have been in the party and what have been their political activities.
The Congress is starting its second leg of training camp from Wednesday during which it will organize 500 camps and train 30,000 workers and leaders.
Ahead of the polls, Priyanka Gandhi asked the party leaders to counter BJP propaganda in the state against the Congress. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday returned after a three-day visit to the state where she interacted with all the office-bearers and district presidents. The party has also decided to take out a 'Congress Pratigya Yatra' with the tagline -- 'Hum Vachan Nibhayenge', ahead of the Assembly elections.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had said that the yatra would cover a distance of 12,000 kilometres and will pass through all major villages and towns.
The date of the yatra is yet undecided though sources said that it was likely to begin from Gandhi Jayanti on October 2.
Inputs from ANI and IANS
