New Delhi, September 10
The Congress on Saturday sought to allay concerns of leaders regarding non-transparency of the electoral rolls for the party president’s election due on October 17 and said anyone desirous of contesting could access the list of 9000 plus voters in the Central Election Authority’s office.
The party responded after Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor shot off a letter in respect of the electoral rolls to Madhusudan Mistry, Chairman of the election authority, and demanded that these be made public. Tharoor has hinted he might run for the top job.
Party MPs Manish Tewari, Karti Chidambaram, Pradyut Bordoloi and Abdul Khaleque had also signed Tharoor’s letter and demanded free and fair elections.
Responding to Tharoor today, Mistry appreciated the intention of leaders to strengthen the party through a free and fair election and said anyone filing the nomination for the Congress President’s election could look for the names of ten supporters needed to sign the papers at their respective state Congress offices or at his office if they want signatures from voters pan India.
“If anyone desires to get nominations from ten supporters across states, the list of all 9000 delegates will be available in my office at AICC from September 20 before they file their nominations from September 24 to 30. They can come and choose their ten supporters and obtain delegate signatures. Once the nomination is signed and handed over to the Chief Returning Officer, the contestant would get the entire list of delegates,” said Mistry.
Mistry also said that for the first time the Congress is issuing QR code based identity cards to all the delegates across 28 states and nine UTs that have Congress committees.
“Those who file the nominations should check if they have the delegate identity card available. Only those with valid identity cards will be allowed to sign on the nomination papers for the position of Congress President,” Mistry informed Tharoor, with whom he also spoke today.
Responding to Mistry’s letter, Tharoor said he was pleased with the clarification. “I am satisfied. Many will be glad to move on with an election process that in my view will only strengthen the party,” said the MP. Karti also said he was satisfied with Mistry’s letter.