No lobby of leaders will work to secure Congress tickets. By furnishing all the required details, leaders have to apply for tickets online, said Odisha in-charge of the Congress, Ajoy Kumar on Thursday.
The state unit of the grand old party had a closed-door meeting today at the state guest house. Besides OPCC president Sarat Pattanayak, Odisha in-charge of the Congress Ajoy Kumar, and AICC Screening Committee chairman Madhusudan Mistry were also present.
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Sources close to the party said the AICC has entrusted the responsibility of bringing transparency in ticket distribution to Pravin Kumar. Soon, e-forms will be made available for aspiring candidates to apply. In case of more than one aspirant, the Pradesh Election Committee will study the winnability of the candidates and choose one from among them. Then, a list of the aspiring candidates will be sent to the Screening Committee. After the approval of the Screening Committee, tickets will be given to the suitable candidates, informed sources.
“If anyone wants to contest elections, they have to apply online. Then there will be a survey team. The survey will be transparent without entertaining any lobby of any leaders. The report will be submitted to the Pradesh Election Committee. The Pradesh Election Committee will then send its final list to Delhi,” said Ajoy Kumar.
Informing about the selection procedure, OPCC chief Sarat Pattanayak said, “For ticket distribution, complete transparency will be followed. A candidate’s winnability will be our first criterion. Our priority will be women and young faces. Besides, those who lost the last election by slender margins will also be considered.”