Farmers Movement Archive

Congress sets in motion organisational polls, asks states to update list of AICC delegates

The Congress has started the process of electing its full-time president as the newly constituted Central Election Authority (CEA) has asked all state units to send an updated list of All India Congress Committee (AICC) delegates, who form the electoral college for the organisational polls, people familiar with the development said. A Congress leader said on condition of anonymity that the CEA has asked the state units to submit a revised list of the AICC delegates and has struck out the names of those who had died or quit the party since December 2017. The state units have been asked to fill the vacancies immediately. The leader said finalising the list of AICC delegates, comprising state and central leaders, is one of the key tasks in conducting the organisational polls, as they elect the party president and the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the apex decision-making body of the 135-year-old party. Also Read: Bihar assembly election 2020: Congress, RJD in impasse over seat sharing in BiharThe AICC is the party’s central unit comprising around 2,000 members from across the country. Interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi had formed the CEA for holding internal polls while carrying out a major organisational reshuffle on September 11.The five-member CEA is headed by Madhusudan Mistry and its members are Rajesh Mishra, Krishna Byre Gowda, S Jothimani and Arvinder Singh Lovely.Lovely is one of the 23 signatories, who had written a letter to Sonia Gandhi in August, seeking complete overhaul of the party and a full-time leadership to stem the steady decline of the organisation. Usually, the AICC delegates are elected for a fixed term of five years, as per the party constitution. The list is revised, as and when organisational polls are held. The tenure of the Congress president and the CWC is also for five years. The party had amended its constitution in 2010 to extend the term of its president from three to five years. Also Read: In farm bill protest, Cong finds a new inspiration: Arun JaitleyThe current AICC members were elected in 2016-17 and will complete their term in 2022. The list was finalised by the previous CEA, which was headed by current Kerala Congress president Mullapally Ramachandran. The previous CEA was dissolved soon after the election of Rahul Gandhi as the Congress president in December 2017. “The list only needs to be updated in a bid to elect the new AICC delegates. It will require an amendment in the Congress constitution,” said the leader quoted above. The election of AICC delegates is a long-drawn process. The AICC delegates are selected from among the members of respective state units, or Pradesh Congress Committees (PCCs). The PCC members, in turn, are elected from different blocks in each state. The number of AICC delegates for each state is decided on the basis of the size of the PCC. Around 15% of the AICC members are co-opted.

Hindustan Times

30-09-2020

India