By Akhileshwari Raj Anand
The Congress leadership is currently in the final stages of finalising the process of electing Rahul Gandhi as the party President before 31st October 2017, when the party’s organisational elections will be completed. This comes almost five years after Rahul Gandhi was appointed as the Vice-President of Congress in January 2013, and a year after he informed the Congress Working Committee (CWC) that he was ready and willing to be the President.
This culminates Sonia Gandhi’s 19 year-long presidency, the longest in the 132-year history of Congress as a political party. Her presidency period includes the ten years in which the party led the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) at the Centre. Sources say that Sonia Gandhi will not retire from politics. She is most likely to continue as a member of the CWC, and will become the Chairperson of the party’s Parliamentary Board.
Party preparation in full swing
Mullappally Ramachandran, the Congress Central Election Authority (CEA) Chairman, stated that work was in full swing within the party to complete the Congress organizational elections. This includes the election of the party President. Once the President is elected, a ceremonial takeover will take place formally at an All India Congress Committee (AICC) plenary session (November- December), which will also elect a new CWC. The CWC comprises of 21 members: 10 elected and 10 nominated, the 21st being the President.
The election process
To ensure that the entire process is on track, CEA Chairman Ramachandra and members Madhusudan Mistry and Bhubaneswar Kalita have recently begun meeting on a daily basis. The returning officers have been asked by the CEA to complete elections to all Districts Congress Committees by 30th September.
The CEA has fixed 10th October as the deadline to wind up the elections for all Pradesh Congress Committees (PCC) and AICC members, who constitute the electoral college which elects the new party President, and then the ten members of the CWC. For this purpose, the CEA has also called for an emergency meeting of all Pradesh Returning Officers on 3rd October in New Delhi.
Once the electoral college is constituted, a meeting of the CWC will be held to approve the election schedule as proposed by the CEA, including the filing of nominations and poll date. The outgoing President, Ms. Gandhi, will also hold a meeting with senior leaders of states where the new PCC chiefs are to be named.
Once Rahul Gandhi is elected as the President, he will move on to the next big task at hand: appointing his team for 2019. It is rumoured to include many fresh faces, but is definitely going to retain some older leaders. The pattern for senior appointments has already been established: a General Secretary can be in charge of only one state, and he or she will be assisted by a few Secretaries.
Featured Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
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