Chandigarh: BJP leader and former Union minister Ravneet Bittu has seized on an internal Congress dispute to attack the party’s “one family, one ticket” policy, backing senior Congress leader Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa’s contention that electoral ability — not family ties — should decide who gets a ticket. Bittu questioned why the Gandhis, who have won multiple tickets, should be treated differently from a family that might field four winnable candidates.
The exchange has sharpened a simmering tussle within Punjab Congress between state chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Randhawa. Warring has defended the party’s organisational reform aimed at limiting multiple tickets within the same family, saying Congress should not award two tickets to members of one household. Randhawa has pushed for flexibility, arguing that a blanket bar could exclude strong, electable contenders: “if a family has four capable candidates who can win, there is no reason why the Congress cannot give all four of them tickets,” he said.
Bittu’s intervention has transformed what began as an intra-party debate into a political weapon for the BJP, enlarging the controversy beyond internal reform to a broader critique of Congress’s stance on dynastic politics. His remarks — invoking the Gandhi family as a benchmark — were aimed at highlighting perceived inconsistency in how the party applies its own rules.
The disagreement exposes a deepening contradiction inside Congress: on one hand, organisational reforms seek to blunt charges of nepotism; on the other, prominent leaders maintain that strict rules could harm the party’s electoral prospects by sidelining strong candidates. With the 2027 Punjab assembly elections looming, the fight over ticket distribution is likely to intensify as competing camps jockey for influence and try to shape candidate lists.
Analysts say the dispute could complicate candidate selection and campaign unity, making ticket allocation a flashpoint for internal rivalry and external attack as parties prepare for the next election cycle.
Original Source: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/one-family-one-ticket-row-grows-as-bjps-ravneet-bittu-targets-congress-11918531#publisher=newsstand
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Publish Date: 2026-08-17 00:50:00
