Rashmi Belur By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: Eyeing a ticket for upcoming Urban Local Body elections 2018 on Congress seat ? If yes, you must subscribe to 'National Herald' newspaper. This is one of the conditions set by Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) for ticket aspirants. On August 6, KPCC released a set of guidelines for the selection of candidates for Urban Local Body elections, and a copy of it is available with The New Indian Express.

When asked about it, KPCC vice-president KE Radhakrishna said, the subscription of the newspaper has been made mandatory as it is necessary to know the party's point of view. "National Herald is the mouthpiece of our party, and each candidate should know what it is. Through it, they can understand the party well."

According to a KPCC source, the annual subscription of the paper costs `1,900. Subscription forms will also be available with the application form.

"Those who have not subscribed to the newspaper yet, forms will be given to them on the spot while submitting the application," said Radhakrishna.

Congress is expected to get at least 12,000 applications for over 2,500 constituencies and 2,574 positions across the state. This includes town municipal corporation, city municipal corporation and town panchayats. Apart from the newspaper subscription, KPCC has also made it mandatory for applicants to register under Shakti Scheme launched by the AICC. Shakti Scheme is a mobile phone-based project launched by the AICC to have direct links between workers and supporters with the party's Central leadership.

To avoid internal conflicts at the local levels during elections, KPCC has made it mandatory for all aspirants to take oath to support the candidate who gets the ticket. The oath-taking will take place at the party workers' meeting after the final selection of candidates. All aspirants will pledge to support the picked candidate, and to work together to win the elections.