The letter dated September 6 was signed by MPs Shashi Tharoor, Karti Chidambaram, Pradyut Bordoloi and Abdul Khaleque.
New Delhi: Raising concerns on the “transparency and fairness” of the poll process to elect the next Congress president, some party MPs, including Shashi Tharoor, have shot off a letter to AICC central election authority chief Madhusudan Mistry. The MPs have sought the electoral rolls to be securely provided to all electors and potential candidates.
The letter dated September 6 was signed by MPs Shashi Tharoor, Karti Chidambaram, Pradyut Bordoloi and Abdul Khaleque. It also said that it is unfortunate that an erroneous interpretation is being given to their demand of releasing the electoral rolls.
The letter read, “We are not suggesting that any internal document of the party should be released in a manner that may give an opportunity to those who wish us ill to misuse the information contained therein.” The letter added, “We are rather of the firm opinion that before the commencement of the nomination process, the party’s Central Election Authority (CEA) must provide a list of Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates that make up the electoral college.”
They stressed that the list must be made available in order to verify who is “entitled to nominate a candidate” and who is “entitled to vote”.
Urging to ensure secrecy, the MPs wrote, “In case the CEA has any concerns with respect to releasing the electoral rolls publicly, it must put in place a mechanism to securely share this information with all electors and potential candidates. Electors and candidates cannot be expected to go to all 28 PCCs and 9 Union Territorial units across the country to verify the electoral rolls…This will remove any unwarranted arbitrariness from the election process.”
