For 2022 assembly election in Uttar Pradesh, the state unit of the Congress Party has issued a circular for ticket seekers of the party to deposit Rs 11,000 as ‘donation’ along with along their application.
https://twitter.com/ANINewsUP/status/1438060964578955266?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwThe circular was issued under the signature of Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu on September 14 where stated that the amount can be deposited through demand draft, RTGS and money order till September 25. District units have also been sent pro-forma of how to submit the donation.
This is not clear that whether the amount which party terms as Sahyoga Rashi (support money) can be refunded in case the ticket is not allotted to an applicant.
It will be interesting to see that how many ticket seeker come forward to attach cash to their CV but the move has triggered a controversy whether it is justified to charge money from ticket aspirants. Ajay Kumar Lallu justified the decision stating that it is contribution amount which is needed to support any institution or organisation to function. “Congress is doing work transparently. We have issued a circular for the same,” he said.
The revival of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh looks a tough undertaking for the Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who is supervising the organizational activities of the party. However, Ajay Kumar Lallu a few days back had claimed that the Congress is returning in Uttar Pradesh and the party will not join hands with any big party like the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly election, the BJP had won 312 seats out of the 403-member house. The BSP ended with 19 seats. Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav had joined hands together referring to themselves as ‘UP ke Ladke’ (UP boys). But the SP-Congress combine ended miserably with 54 seats.