Congress President is elected by 9,000 PCC members: Why is Manish Tewari demanding to release the list of these members?

Anyone can file nomination for the post of Congress President. This is democracy only in our party.

Jairam Ramesh, Congress leader

'How will there be a fair election without making the voter list public? This doesn't happen even in club elections!'

- Manish Tewari, Congress leader

In the earlier statement, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said this while announcing voting for the post of Congress President on 17 October, but 3 days later on 31 August, Congress leader Manish Tewari raised questions on the fairness of the election. He has demanded to release the list of PCC members who voted in the election of Congress President.

In such a situation, today we will tell in the explainer that what is the organization of Congress, what is AICC and PCC?

Who can contest the election of Congress President and who chooses him, why Manish Tewari is raising questions on the fairness of the election...

Question: How is the organization of Congress, what is AICC and PCC?

Answer: To know the politics and process of the election of Congress President, it is very important to know the organization of the party. Broadly, the organization of the Congress is 5 tier-

1. All India Congress Committee ie AICC

2. Congress Working Committee ie CWC

3. Pradesh Congress Committee ie PCC

4. District/City Congress Committee

5. Block Committee

The lowest level of these is the Block Committee. Above these are the District Congress Committees at the district level. Above them are the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), it is a state level organization.

According to Article 11 of the Congress Constitution, each Block Congress Committee sends its representative to the PCC through secret ballot. All such delegates are members of the PCC. At present, there are 9 to 10 thousand members in all the State Congress Committees of Congress ie PCC.

According to Article 13 of the Congress Constitution, all PCC members elect 1/8 members from among themselves to the AICC by means of a single transferable vote of the Propositional Representation System. AICC is the national organization of Congress, it currently has about 1500 members. The National President of Congress is also the head of AICC.

A special part of the Congress organization between the AICC and the PCC is the CWC, that is, the Congress Working Committee. The CWC consists of 25 members. The Congress President is also the head of the CWC. In addition, the head of the Congress Parliamentary Party is the second ex-officio member of the CWC. Of the remaining 23 seats, 12 are elected by the AICC members and the remaining 11 are nominated by the Congress President.

At present, the Congress President is also nominating 12 members who have been elected by the AICC for the last several years. Clearly, the CWC is completely dominated by the Congress President. From the announcement of the election of the Congress President to the conduct of elections, the CWC has an important role.

Group 23 of party leaders, who raised their voice against the policies of the party on the current situation of Congress, has also been demanding elections for 12 seats of CWC.

Question: Who elects the Congress President?

Answer: The most important role in the election of the Congress President is that of the State Congress Committees of the Congress. All the members of the PCC are called delegates. These delegates vote in the election of Congress President.

Question: Who can contest for the post of Congress President?

Answer: To become a candidate for the post of Congress President, recommendation of 10 members of PCC is necessary. According to Article 18 of the Constitution of Congress, any 10 delegates i.e. members of the PCC can make any delegate a candidate for the post of Congress President.

Question: Who conducts the election of Congress President?

Answer: CWC i.e. Congress Working Committee announces the election of Congress President. It is the top executive body of Congress. The CWC constitutes the Central Election Authority to conduct the elections. It is an internal body like the Election Commission. This same body announces the date of election, date of nomination, date of withdrawal, names of candidates etc. This authority consists of 3 to 5 members. At present, Congress leader Madhusudan Mistry is its chairman.

Question: How is voting done for the election of Congress President?

Answer: Voting takes place when there is more than one candidate. Whenever it came to the election of Congress President, the number of candidates was only two. In such a situation, all the PCC members vote according to the single transferable vote of the Propositional Representation System, giving preference to the candidates on the ballot paper.

In case of two candidates, whoever gets more than 50% of the votes of the first preference will be the winner. If there are more than two candidates, the winning quota will be reduced accordingly and whoever gets the same number of votes as that quota wins the election.