AIADMK had asked the party ticket candidates to pay the same amount for contesting 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Following the Punjab Congress move to ask the ticket aspirants for the Lok Sabha elections to pay a fee to get the party nomination, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has told the party leaders “willing” to contest parliamentary polls to pay Rs 25,000 when they submit their application forms for the same.
In Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, the election ticket fee is applicable for seats where the AIAADMK has significant support base. The AIADMK has announced that in Lok Sabha elections, party workers who are willing to contest can apply from 4.2.2019 to 10.2.19 after paying Rs 25,000, according to a news agency.
A similar notification for the party ticket candidates ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha polls had been issued by AIADMK, which were held in April-May that year. In December 2013 the AIADMK had asked the party ticket aspirants to pay the same fee as sought for this year Lok Sabha polls.
From Punjab Congress, a similar direction came earlier which asked party members applying for tickets for 2019 Lok Sabha polls to shell out Rs 25,000 as application fee. The application fee is Rs 20,000 For the reserved category seats, the application fee is Rs 20,000. Punjab has 13 Lok Sabha seats including four reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates.
The Punjab Congress move is aimed at helping the cash-starved party generate funds ahead of the general elections. The Punjab Congress also asked its Chandigarh counterpart to follow suit.
In Chandigarh, the Punjab local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu with wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu and former Ludhiana MP Manish Tewari vying for the party ticket, the competition for the nomination is getting stiff here.
“The decision was communicated to us by the Punjab unit and both Sidhu and Tewari would also be asked to pay the application fee of Rs 25,000,” Chandigarh Congress unit president Pradeep Chhabra said.