Cong to begin application sale for LS election today

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president KS Alagiri on Thursday invited the party men to collect applications on Friday and Saturday. Similar to the Dravidian majors, the Congress party has fixed Rs 25,000 as nomination fee for general constituencies, while the sum would be Rs 10,000 for women and reserved seats.

In a statement here on Thursday, Alagiri said that the applications would be issued after the official announcement about seat allotted to each party in the DMK combine. Notably, the Congress did not invite applications for the assembly bypolls which would be held along with Parliamentary polls. Among the 18 constituencies, Sholinghur, which was contested by Congress in 2016 election, would go for polls on April 18.

It may be noted that the seat sharing agreement signed between the DMK and Congress had no mention of thebypolls either.

When asked, DMK president MK Stalin had said then that they would decide it after the poll dates are announced for the assembly constituencies. Applications may not sell like hot cakes this time in the Congress party as it seems to have already identified the candidates for the seats allotted to it in Tamil Nadu.

At least a couple of ex-MPs, former ministers or their sons are believed to be favourites for the meagre nine seats. It is expected that there would be a huge demand for Kanniyakumari seat, where the prospects are bright for the national party without the DMK factor comingin to play.