Mumbai:

Confounding the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies, the Congress on Saturday invited applications from prospective candidates for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections, along with a steep application fee.

State Congress Vice President Nana Gawande has issued a circular to this effect to all the district party units and other officials with the relevant instructions.

The non-refundable application fee is Rs 20,000 for general category candidates, and Rs 10,000 for SC/ST and women candidates, and it is also open to others to submit their applications as per the prescribed rules.

All the applicants – new or party veterans – must submit their papers along with the fee to the district party offices or the regional office before August 10.

A similar drive has been launched in Haryana and Jharkhand. It was intended to throw up “good candidates” whom the party leadership can consider for giving tickets, said an official.

A senior Congress leader said the applications have been invited from all the 288 Assembly seats.

On whether the Congress initiative could clash with the claims of ticket aspirants from the MVA allies Shiv Sena (UBT), Nationalist Congress Party (SP), and other alliance partners, the leader replied in the negative.

“This is a democratic attempt to bring up noteworthy candidates with extraordinary leadership qualities from among the lakhs of party activists spread all over Maharashtra, give them due prominence and, if possible, field them in the elections with full backing,” he explained, declining to be named.

Along with the party’s internal drive, Mr Gawande said that the Election Commission of India (ECI) would be launching a program to update/revise the voters’ lists from July 25.

Accordingly, the party has called upon all Congress workers to ensure that all the eligible persons in their areas are included, particularly new voters (aged above 18) in the revised voters’ list as per the instructions of state Congress president Nana Patole and All India Congress Committee General Secretary Ramesh Chennithala.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)