New Delhi, Sep 26 (IANS): Congress General Secretary In charge of Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will be in Lucknow for a week from Monday evening to take stock of poll preparations in the state.

The Congress leaders say she will be meeting state leaders and also important party workers in Lucknow during her week long tour.

She will have scheduled meetings with the manifesto committee and with the election committee to assess the party's poll preparedness in the state, sources said.

Priyanka Gandhi is likely to participate in one of the training programmes being organised by the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee.

The Congress in Uttar Pradesh will take out a 'Congress Pratigya Yatra' with the tagline -- 'Hum Vachan Nibhayenge', ahead of the Assembly elections, due early next year.

Priyanka has said that the yatra would cover a distance of 12,000 kilometres and will pass through all major villages and towns to connect with the masses.

The date of the yatra is yet to be decided, though sources said it was likely to begin on the Gandhi Jayanti on October 2.

The party is readying the first list of candidates in October, months ahead of the elections. For this, the the Congress in Uttar Pradesh has extended the last date for applications for the Assembly polls. In a letter sent to all party units, UPCC president Ajay Kumar Lallu said that applications form from prospective candidates will now be received till October 10.

Earlier, the last date for submitting applications was September 25. Each candidate was asked to deposit a sum of Rs 11,000 with the form.

Party sources said that the reason for extending the date was that the number of applications received so far was 'unsatisfactory'.