If anyone desires to get nominations from 10 supporters from different States to contest the upcoming Congress presidential polls, the list of all 9,000-plus delegates will be available at All India Congress Committee (AICC) office from September 20, Central Election Authority (CEA) chairman Madhusudan Mistry said on Saturday in response to the Lok Sabha members who had demanded transparency in the election procedure.
Earlier, five Lok Sabha members – Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, Karti Chidambaram, Pradyut Bordoloi and Abdul Khaleque – had jointly petitioned the CEA chairman to make the electoral roll available to them for the sake of transparency.
Both Mr. Tharoor and Mr. Tewari are part of the G-23 or the ginger group within the Congress that has been pushing for internal reforms within the party for the past two years.
“In case the CEA has any concerns with respect to releasing the electoral rolls publicly, it must put in place a mechanism to securely share this information with all electors and potential candidates. Electors and candidates cannot be expected to go to all 28 PCCs [Pradesh Congress Committees] and 9 Union Territorial units across the country to verify the electoral rolls,” the Lok Sabha members said in their letter of September 6.
“As long as this demand is met, our concern about transparency - a sine qua non in any free and fair election - will be met,” they added.
Editorial | Discovery of Congress: On Bharat Jodo Yatra
Responding to them on Saturday, Mr. Mistry wrote, “If anyone desires to get nominations from ten supporters from different states, the list of all 9000+ delegates will be available in my office at AICC, Delhi from 20th September (11 AM to 6 PM), before they file their nomination on 24 September. They can come and choose their 10 supporters (delegates) from the list and obtain their (delegates) signature for nomination”.
He also said that for the first time QR code-based identity cards have been issued to all the delegates across the 28 States and 9 Union Territories where there are Congress Committees.
“Those who want to file a nomination should check if they have a delegate identity card available with them. Only people with valid identity cards will be allowed to sign on the nomination papers for the position of the Congress President,” Mr. Mistry said.
“This should resolve the anxiety of anybody about the process of filing their nominations without knowing the names of the delegates. Once the nomination is signed and handed over to Chief Returning Officer, they will get the entire list of the delegates,” he added.
The CEA chief reiterated his earlier stand as well that Congress party members can also check the list of delegates from their respective State units or the PCCs and thanked Mr. Tharoor for calling him up.
As per the election schedule announced by the CEA, voting for the new president will take place on October 17 if there is more than one candidate in the fray and the last date to file nomination is September 30.
Calling the leak of their letter as “malicious”, Mr. Tharoor tweeted, “I am pleased that this clarification has come in the form of his constructive reply to our letter. In view of these assurances, I am satisfied. Many will be glad to move on with an election process that in my view will only strengthen the party”.
A section of the G-23 is said to be scouting for a common candidate to challenge “the official candidate of the establishment”. However, Congress’ top leadership including the Gandhis are keen that Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot emerges as a consensus candidate.
On August 23, The Hindu had reported that with Rahul Gandhi reluctant to become the party chief again and concerns over Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s health, Ms. Gandhi had asked Mr. Gehlot to lead the party.
Even though the Rajasthan Chief Minister has been publicly pitching for former party chief Mr. Gandhi to take over once again, it is learnt that he has already had meetings with senior colleagues including Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, Mukul Wasnik and Mr. Tharoor, who has expressed interest in contesting the election.
If Mr. Gehlot finally accepts the party’s top post, he may have to deal with the tricky proposition of choosing his successor as the next Chief Minister. It is well known in Congress circles that he is not keen on handing over the reins to his former deputy, Sachin Pilot, after he had led a rebellion against the Gehlot government in July 2021. And with Rajasthan going to polls next year, the high command would have to tread carefully on this count.
