Cong leader seeks transparency in election of party president
New Delhi: Voices seeking fairness in the upcoming polls to elect the new Congress president grew louder on Wednesday, with party leaders Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor and Karti Chidambaram demanding that electoral rolls be made public to ensure transparency in the process.
Congress MP and G-23 leader Tewari raised objections to the party not making public the names of electors for the party president poll, and said it must be published on the AICC website to ensure transparency.
He also asked why anyone seeking to contest the Congress president's election should go to the PCC office to get the electoral roll as this does not even happen in a club election.
"With great respect Madhusudan Mistry ji How can there be a fair and free election without a publicly available electoral roll? Essence of a fair and free process is names and addresses of electors must be published on the Congress website in a transparent manner," Tewari said. Congress MP Tharoor, who has expressed his intent to contest the party's presidential election, agreed with Tewari, and said everybody should know who can nominate and who can vote. Congress leader Karti Chidambaram supported his view, saying every election requires a well defined electoral college.