In an apparent refusal to the demand of Himachal Congress legislative Party for deferring the state organisation elections, the All India Congress Committee on Friday issued the schedule for the elections.
Himachal Pradesh ClP in a meeting held on May 6 had decided to demand deferment of organisational polls of the party. Some of the members of the ClP had said that it would not be a wise decision to hold organisation polls just before the assembly polls in the state as the organisational polls may create a rift among the party leadership and cadre .
B D Kalla, Former minister of Rajasthan and Returning Officer of party for the organisational polls, on Friday informed in a press conference at Congress Headquarters in Shimla that central authority had decided to conduct organisational polls in Himachal Pradesh before October, 2017 and the party was going ahead with the election schedule suggested by the central authority.
He admitted that Himachal Chief Minster Virbhadra Singh and Congress legislative Party’s decision for seeking deferment of organisational polls was brought to his knowledge and was duly sent for the consideration of central authority.
Kalia said the Central Returning Officer M. Ram Chandran would take a decision on the call of ClP for postponement of the organisational elections however until he did not get any instruction from him the process would be continue.
Sticking to the pre-determined schedule for holding elections, Kalla said that there was no information from the central authority to put a hold on the preparations for organisational polls. He said that the party had decided to kick off the party membership drive to enroll about one lakh new members by May 15.
Announcing the schedule for organisational polls, Kalla said that the Booth level polls would be conducted from August 7 to 14 and would be followed by Block level polls from August 21 to Sept 4. The District level polls would start from September 4 and would be concluded by September 14.
The election for Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) would be conducted after the conclusion of elections at the ground level. The elections for HPCC and AICC would be held between September 16 to October 15.