By Our Special Correspondent
A day before the Congress central election authority issued a notification for the AICC presidential polls, the party seems to have split the house in displeasure even before the election process began.
At least 11 state units of the party have passed resolutions to select Rahul for the top post in the Congress presidential election to be held on October 17. The process of filing nominations for the elections will be held from September 24 to 30.
Speaking to this daily, a prominent leader of the Congress said that in many states, PROs are passing resolutions on the orders of Central Election Authority Chairman Madhusudan Mistry, which is a clear violation of the election process.
“Rahul Gandhi cannot be asked to take responsibility as elections are going on. Can be asked to contest election by filing nomination. They cannot cancel the election process now. Why is he telling the PROs who report directly to Election Officer Mistry, who is supposed to be neutral, to implement these resolutions? Who authorized him?" asks the leader.
Last week, Central Election Authority Chairman Madhusudan Mistry assured that the election for the post of AICC president would be free and fair and the list of voters would be published for transparency. “This is hypocrisy. The promise of transparent elections has been discredited. In my state, Rahul was asked to pass a resolution as the president,' said a leader from Gujarat.
Another G-23 leader pointed out that resolutions are being passed with the blessings of the Gandhi family and neither Sonia Gandhi nor Rahul Gandhi can be said to be innocent. "Rahul can stop resolutions with one tweet, but he didn't, he is welcome to contest democratically and win," he said.
A leader said that there are differences of opinion on participation in the election process. "One view is that the whole process should not be sanctified, another view is to at least see that the elections are as fair and normal as possible," he said.
Another senior leader who is part of the G-23 said they batted for broader reforms as the party has been steadily losing ground in several states in the Congress. "The reason is that all the people nominated are yes men and they can't give any hard advice. Now it's back to square one," he said.
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