It’s the proactive work in Khat Sabhas of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi which is going to get a Congress ticket in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. The new directions issued by the Congress vice-president have had the ticket aspirants working overtime in the state.
During and after the Khat Sabha, it is the duty of the Congress ticket aspirants to distribute forms or Kisan Maang Patras. These include the amount of loan taken by farmers, amount spent on electricity, etc. The main agenda of the Congress in this election is farm loan waiver; something which the Congress did in 2008 during the UPA 1 government at the Centre.
The new directions of Mr Gandhi clearly lay down that the first three aspirants who get 10,000 forms filled in a constituency will be eligible for a Congress ticket. The process is that these forms are numbered and they have a counterfoil which will stay with the farmer. The farmer has to give a missed call after which the state Congress team will be in touch with them. The Congress feels that this will be a connect with the farmers till the polling day.
Significantly, these three aspirants per constituency will be shortlisted and they will meet Mr Gandhi sometime by the end of October. When the election process was started, there were 9,000 aspirants for 403 Assembly seats. Now, after the booth-level screening, the figure has come down to 4,000. The Congress wants to prune this list further, but with scientific methods as being suggested by Prashant Kishore and his team.
Congress spokesperson Sandeep Dikshit said, “In this election, Rahul Gandhi is raising the real issues faced by farmers. Our leaders will try and get these forms to as many farmer families as possible.”
The Congress is now hopeful in reaching about 3 crore households which according to the party is no ordinary feat. The ticket-seekers this time round are not hoarding at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi or in Lucknow. A system has been put in place and the aspirants are working in their prospective constituencies. A new system for the Congress where hitherto allegations over ticket distribution would fly thick and fast.
