Ahead of the 2024 Assembly polls in the state, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) on Saturday started screening of applications of party ticket aspirants. The OPCC has received online applications from nearly 2,500 aspirants for the State’s 147 constituencies.
The Assembly elections in Odisha will be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls.
Earlier, AICC Odisha in-charge Ajoy Kumar had launched a portal to facilitate aspirants to apply for party tickets for the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
OPCC president Sarat Pattanayak said, “A new formula has been made to maintain transparency and give scope to all to apply for Congress tickets. A lot of influential people have also applied. We have around 2,500 applicants for 147 Assembly constituencies and around 500 aspirants for the 21 Lok Sabha seats.”
Pattanayak said that one-to-one discussion is being done with the aspirants and a seven-day task is given to them which would be evaluated by the Congress team.
Meanwhile, Ajoy Kumar took an indirect jibe at the Tamil Nadu-born bureaucrat-turned-BJD politician VK Pandian for his growing influence on the State administration. He said, “At present, a ‘PTN’ (Pandian from Tamil Nadu)-trend is going on. Like Paytm, PTN will also stop in Odisha.”
“Around 30 lakh people from the State are moving outside for jobs while 30 industrialists from Tamil Nadu are setting up steel plants. People from other States are getting contracts here,” said Kumar.
