NEW DELHI: Congress rebels have claimed that the organisational election process set in motion by the party leadership is rigged to elect a member of the Gandhi family or their nominee as party president.
The Congress Working Committee (CWC) members elected through this process would also be an exclusive club of family loyalists, they said.
The party leadership had recently constituted a Central Election Committee (CEC) and nominated former MP Madhusudan Mistry as its chairman.
Mistry is assisted by four other members — Rajesh Mishra (former MP), S Jothimani (Lok Sabha MP), Arvinder Singh Lovely (former Delhi minister) and Krishna Byre Gowda (Karnataka MLA).
This CEC would hold organisational elections which would conclude in August-September this year with the election of a new Congress president and members of the CWC.
Rebels say Mistry was hand-picked by the Gandhi family and he has, in turn, appointed Pradesh Returning Officers (PROs), who would conduct elections in the states under their charge. Each of these state PROs would be assisted by two Assistant Pradesh Returning Officers (APROs).
The PROs and APROs would facilitate and supervise polls of PCC delegates and AICC members. The electoral college for electing the Congress president comprises over 10,000 PCC delegates who are elected at the block level by the block Congress presidents.
These delegates then elect about 1,400 AICC members, who in turn elect members of the CWC.
This is the procedure on paper. In practice, the PROs and APROs, in consultation with the central party leadership, prepare lists of PCC delegates and AICC members and get them signed by the respective state presidents.
This list is approved by the CEC and the Congress president and CWC members are then elected on the basis of this list.
Rebels say the hand-picked CEC and PROs and APROs would pick only family loyalists as PCC delegates and AICC members.
“It is a process rigged to elect a member of the Gandhi family or their nominee,” said a prominent member of the group of rebels.
He demanded that the CEC immediately be disbanded and a fresh election body formed in a transparent manner with wide consultation. He said only a free and fair election would reflect the will of Congressmen.
Holding such an election would go a long way in bringing internal democracy at every level of the party.
He added that the election process should be transparent. Only then the party would have inclusive leadership. This is one of the main sticking points in the patch-up talks between the two camps, he informed.