The Congress will have elected office-bearers at all levels, including 12 members in the Congress Working Committee (CWC), by the end of 2015, if the year-long organisational elections starting on December 1 go as planned.
Party vice-president Rahul Gandhi told a meeting of State presidents and office-bearers on Tuesday that he wanted “free and fair elections at all levels.”
The last time the CWC members were elected was in 1997, when Sitaram Kesri was party president. The present president, Sonia Gandhi, has always nominated CWC members and State presidents.
Democratising the organisation has been a key element of Mr. Gandhi’s plans for the party. The party constitution mandates that All India Congress Committee members elect 12 members of the CWC.
“The emphasis is not merely to have elected leadership but also to use this as a mass contact programme. The party is going through challenging times and organisational election has the potential to revitalise it,” said Mullappally Ramachandran, chairman of the Central Election Authority of the party.
“There are 9.3 lakh polling booths in the country, which is the primary unit of the party organisation. By the end of the process, we hope to have 10 active Congress workers in each booth.”
Enrolment of fake members by leaders trying to manipulate the outcome has been a recurring problem whenever the party has tried to conduct organisational elections. Complaints of State leaders denying rival factions enough number of membership booklets have already begun this time.
Mr. Ramachandran said the scrutiny mechanism would be stricter this time, and people who commanded authority would be appointed as Pradesh returning officers.
