Manish Tewari raises concern over election process in Congress
Aug 31, 2022
New Delhi [India], September 1 : Unease continues to persist in the Congress as another senior leader and party MP Manish Tewari on Wednesday raised concerns over the election process in the party.
In a series of tweets, Tewari raised issues regarding the election process in Congress days after the party announced the schedule for the election of party president.
Taking to Twitter, the Congress leader said, "My colleague in Parliament Karti P Chidambaram is spot on. For any election to be kosher the electoral college must be constitutionally constituted. I read in the papers Anand Sharma had articulated this widely shared concern in the CWC and he even publicly confirmed that he had raised it."
Tewari's remarks came after Karti Chidambaram's tweet that said, "Every election needs a well-defined and clear electoral college. The process of forming the electoral college must also be clear, well-defined and transparent. An ad hoc electoral college is no electoral college."
In a series of tweets, the Congress MP questioned how can there be a fair and free election without a publicly available electoral roll? "The essence of a fair and free process is names and addresses of electors must be published on Congress website in a transparent manner," he said.
"Why should someone have to go to every PCC office in the country to find out who the electors are? This does not happen in a club election also with great respect. In interests of fairness and transparency, I urge your good self to publish the entire list of electors on Congress website. How can someone consider running if he/she does not know who the electors are. If someone has to file his/her nomination and gets it proposed by 10 Congresspersons as is requirement CEA can reject it saying they are not valid electors," he added.
Ghulam Nabi Azad who resigned from Congress last week has also raised concerns over the election process in the party.
In a hard-hitting five-page note to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, Azad, wrote, "The entire organisational election process is a farce and a sham. At no place anywhere in the country have elections been held at any level of the organisation. Handpicked lieutenants of the AICC have been coerced to sign on lists prepared by the coterie that runs the AICC sitting in 24, Akbar Road."
Hitting out at Rahul Gandhi, Azad wrote, "Since the 2019 elections the situation in the party has only worsened. After Rahul Gandhi stepped down in a 'huff' and not before insulting all the senior Party functionaries who have given their lives to the party in a meeting of the extended Working Committee, you took over as interim President. A position that you have continued to hold even today for the past three years."
Congress Working Committee (CWC) had on Sunday decided that the election for the Congress president post will be held on October 17, said sources. The counting of votes will be done on October 19.
This comes in the backdrop of the party's senior leader Gulam Nabi Azad's resignation on Friday. According to sources, the election for the post of president has now become a challenge for Congress with the reluctance of Rahul Gandhi to contest the polls.
The Central Election Authority has made preparations to complete the election process on time.
The process seems to remain stuck since Rahul Gandhi is not willing to contest the election for the post of Congress president, although all the efforts to convince him are still going on, added sources.
