Outside chance

Ticket distribution for the upcoming polls has certainly become a messy affair with a large number of disgruntled ticket seekers. Things came to a head at the Congress headquarters when local Congressmen from Noida, which is represented by the Gautam Budh Nagar seat, were angry at an "outsider", Ramesh Chand Tomar, being fielded from there. They marched to 24, Akbar Road shouting slogans, blocking traffic and demanding that a local candidate should be named. Tomar is a four-time MP from Ghaziabad who had shifted from the BJP to the Congress in 2009. The Congress has accommodated actor Raj Babbar in Ghaziabad and fielded Tomar from Noida.