No family or age bar for tickets, says Karnataka Congress chief

Contrary to strict norms laid down in the recent assembly elections, Congress will not have any restrictive guidelines like limiting one ticket to a family or barring aspirants beyond an age for the upcoming polls to Karnataka assembly.

Karnataka Congress president Dinesh Gundurao told TOI, “There will be only two norms for nominations – winnability and social justice. Congress always operates on social justice parameters. There will be no such norms as ‘one ticket per family’ or ‘age bar’. It will all depend on how active a person is at the moment and each case will be addressed based upon that.”

In recent elections in Punjab and Gujarat, Congress came out with guidelines for allocating tickets. The party argued that such norms helped douse anger among workers who resent the stranglehold of select political families on the organisation. In Himachal Pradesh, Congress was forced to make an exception when it gave in to then chief minister Virbhadra Singh's pressure for a ticket to his son Vikramaditya Singh.


Gundurao said, “ If someone is really good, he will be an exception. So, there is no guideline.”