Congress leader Tewari seeks transparency in election of party president; Tharoor, Karti support him

Manish Tewari. File pic

Voices from within the Congress seeking "fairness" in the upcoming election of the new party president grew louder on Wednesday, with its leaders Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor and Karti Chidambaram demanding that electoral rolls be made public to ensure transparency.

Congress MP Tewari, who was among the G-23 dissidents, raised objections to the party not making public the names of electors for the party president polls and said it must be published on the AICC website for a "free and fair" process.

He also asked why anyone seeking to contest the Congress president's election should go to the PCC office to get the electoral roll as this does not even happen in a club election.

Also read: I am not tenant but partner in Congress, says Manish Tewari

"With great respect Madhusudan Mistry ji, How can there be a fair and free election without a publicly available electoral roll? Essence of a fair and free process is names and addresses of electors must be published on the Congress website in a transparent manner," Tewari said in a series of tweets.

He said Mistry, who is the chairman of the Congress' central election authority, is quoted as saying "The list is not made public but if a member of our party wants to check, they can check at the PCC office. And, of course, it will be given to the candidates once they file their nomination papers".

Mistry, however, claimed that the election to the party president's post is being held transparently and the entire poll process is free and fair.

He said as per the party's constitution, the electoral roll cannot be made public, but it can be provided to anyone contesting the election.

"Concerns raised over the poll process for party president's election have been addressed and I have talked to Anand Sharma in this regard. I will also talk to Manish Tewari to address his concerns too," he said.

Congress MP Tharoor, who has expressed his intent to contest the party's presidential election, agreed with Tewari and said everybody should know who can nominate and who can vote.

"Certainly, I think it's important that everybody should have transparency on the electoral rolls. If that's what Manish has asked for, then I'm sure that it's a principle that everybody would agree. Everybody should know who can nominate and who can vote.

"There is nothing wrong with that," Tharoor said at a function in Thiruvananthapuram while concurring with Tewari.

Another Congress leader and MP Karti Chidambaram supported the view, saying every election requires a well-defined electoral college.

He also said that "reformists are not rebels".

"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," he said on Twitter.

He supported the idea of having primaries, saying, "we must have primaries in every constituency, but for that, we need a defined and transparent members list. Today we claim we have membership numbers which no one has ever verified." Tewari replied to him, saying, "My Colleague in Parliament Karti 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." Responding to a query on Twitter, he asked, "So anybody who wants to reform the party must resign? Only blind followers are allowed to be in the party?" Tewari asked, "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 interest of fairness and transparency, I urge your good self to publish the entire list of electors on the Congress website," the Punjab MP said.

"How can someone consider running if he/she does not know who electors are. If someone has to file his/her nomination and gets it proposed by 10 Congress persons, as is requirement, the CEA can reject it saying they are not valid electors," Tewari said while pointing fingers at the process of election.

Seeking to counter these demands, Congress leader Manickam Tagore said party leaders must not create confusion and should be proud of the open system.

"I am a PCC member from Thiruparankundram Block in Madurai. Any 10 PCC members can propose a candidate for Congress President when the nomination starts.

"Why my colleagues are trying to create confusion in the electoral process. Instead, we must be proud to have an open system," he said in a tweet.

Tewari is among the G-23 leaders who had sought an organisational overhaul and elections at all levels, in a letter to the Congress president in August 2020. The Congress MP's charge comes in the wake of CWC member and another G-23 leader Anand Sharma raising objections to the poll process at the last meeting of the CWC.

He also asked whether the sanctity of the poll process was followed as per the party's Constitution.

Another senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad resigned last Friday from the party, alleging that the electoral rolls are made by a "coterie running the AICC", the election process is a "sham and farce" and the leadership is committing fraud on the party.

The notification for the Congress president's election will be out on September 22 and the process for filing nominations will begin from September 24 to 30.

The last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 8 and the election, if required, will be held on October 17.

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