Shimla, April 19 -- Himachal Pradesh Congress on Saturday clarified that the absence of women as block presidents was due to a lack of applications even as a senior party leader termed it as an "excuse".

A day after the Himachal Pradesh Congress released a list of 71 block presidents, the fact regarding the absence was flagged to the party prompting a response that no applications were received.

Raising questions, former state Congress president, Viplove Thakur, said, "No applications were received is just an excuse. The decision to appoint these presidents was taken in haste due to the upcoming panchayat elections and that aspects regarding the strengthening of the organization were not given serious consideration prior to their deploy...