At CWC meet, Anand Sharma flags lack of polls at party’s lower rungs

NEW DELHI: The Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Sunday approved the schedule for the election of the new party president, with the process culminating with voting on October 17.
However, the passage of time has not changed the circumstances as Congress continues to be in the grip of a protracted churn, the latest being the resignation of senior leader and G23 head Ghulam Nabi Azad.
While Azad’s Friday exit may not have been such a surprise given the course he chose over the last two years, he did not leave without casting doubts on the internal polls, calling it an attempt by the Rahul Gandhi camp to foist “proxies” as the party president, and dubbing the potential leader as “puppet on a string”.

At the brief CWC meeting where only the election schedule was discussed and in which Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra joined on the same screen (they are abroad for Sonia’s annual medical checkup), sources said Anand Sharma claimed he had received complaints that no election were held at the lower rungs of block, district and state level — a remark seen as amplifying Azad’s allegation that organisational polls were a “giant fraud”.
He also claimed that state committees had not received the list of delegates who form the electoral college for the AICC president’s election, terming it a violation. Congress Election Committee chairman Madhusudan Mistry responded that all the meetings were held, and the list of delegates were ready, approved by the AICC-appointed election observers. He said over 9,000 members will vote and the lists will be provided to candidates who file nominations.
It is to be seen if the dissident block muddies the water further by contesting the polls, or by even seeking legal recourse that it had claimed last year. Sharma was said to be consulting his camp followers. Detailing the schedule, at a press conference, Mistry said the polls will be notified on September 22, and nominations will be filed between September 24-30.
The last date of withdrawal will be October 8, and if more than one nomination is received, then voting will be held on October 17.