With controversies surrounding the upcoming Congress presidential polls amid the mega Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi, the grand old party has made certain technical changes in its election format to make it more ‘transparent’.
For the first time, Congress will issue QR code-based cards to all delegates in all States and UTs 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 Congress president,” said the party.
To file the nomination for the president election, the candidate will have to look for the names of 10 supporters . If a candidate wants to get these 10 supporters from different states, the list of all 9,000+ delegates will be available at the Delhi party office from September 20. Once the nomination is signed and handed over to the chief returning officer, they will get the entire list of delegates, mentioned the procedures.
Ahead of the crucial election leaders including Party MPs Manish Tiwari and Shashi Tharoor demanded transparency and availability of the names of delegates following which the party leadership agreed to make significant changes to the polling process with Tharoor appreciating the move.
“Anyone who wants to file nomination for the post of Congress president will be able to see the list of all 9,000 delegates who make up the electoral college. This list will be available at the office of the party's central election authority from September 20, “ said party’s chief Central Election Authority Madhusudan Mistry.
Shashi Tharoor, Karti Chidambaram and Manish Tewari, had written to Mistry, demading "transparency, fairness" in the election process. The other two MPs who wrote are Pradyut Bordoloi and Abdul Khaleque.
The Congress President's election will be held on October 17 and nominations can be filed from September 24 to 30. "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 24th September," Mistry added.
Mistry said the changes done on demand of party members should resolve the anxiety of anybody about the process of filing their nominations without knowing the names of the delegates.
Shashi Tharoor has written now written to Mistry saying their concerns have been met. "I am pleased that this clarification has come in the form of his constructive reply to our letter (attached). 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,” Tharoor said in a tweet message amidst the speculations that he is likely to be contesting the presidential election. Tharoor said all he and his colleagues were doing was only seeking clarification, not confrontation.
Tharoor said he spoke to Madhusudan Mistry to end the "unseemly controversy" that had arisen after the "malicious leak" of a private letter from 5 MPs to him. "I stressed that as loyal Congressmen we were seeking clarification, not confrontation," he said. Manish Tiwary was the first leader to have asked the authorities to publish the list of names who would participate in the voting process. The demand gathered support from the other MPs and was seen as a rebellion coinciding with the exit of former J&K chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad from the party.
In the joint letter, the 5 MPs said if there is any concerns with releasing the electoral rolls publicly, then the central election authority must put in place a mechanism to securely share the information with the electors and the potential candidates.