Mistry says 'authorisation is for incoming Congress Chief' but it raises questions on CWC poll

Chairman of the Congress' Central Election Authority (CEA) Madhusudan Mistry on Thursday said the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates will soon pass resolutions, authorising the "incoming Congress president" to appoint (nominate) PCC presidents and AICC delegates and argued that it would have no bearing on the upcoming party presidential polls.

But the move to authorise the "incoming Congress president" to nominate AICC delegates, some in the party feel, can raise doubts on the functional autonomy of these "president-nominated AICC delegates" given they form the electoral college to elect the 12 electable Congress Working Committee members in the event of a contest at the AICC session.

Amid in-house murmurs over the move to make PCC delegates pass resolutions (the process started on Thursday itself in some states including Kerala), Mistry clarified the authorisation would not be for the outgoing president.



"The Pradesh Returning Officers (PROs) will call a meeting of PCC delegates where they will pass resolutions to authorise the incoming Congress president to appoint PCC presidents and AICC delegates...I want to clarify, in view of some confusion, that this is an entirely independent process and it will have no effect or bearing on the Congress president's election".

Barring the strange exercise of authorising a currently non-existing person (incoming party president), Mistry is technically correct as the electoral college for electing the Congress president comprises 9,000-odd PCC delegates, who have been already constituted, overwhelmingly through consensus/nomination (with the solitary exception of Andaman and Nicobar Islands where a contest took place).


Mistry avoided questions at a press meet as to why the CEA is not overseeing -- as it did in the case of PCC delegates -- the constitution of the (about 2,000-odd) AICC delegates, and instead facilitating resolutions, authorising incoming party president to appoint the AICC delegates.

But Congress circles were not surprised. "This authorisation to name the AICC delegates is designed to help the new party president to totally control the electoral college in the event of a contest to the (12) berths of the CWC or to avoid a contest by authorising the party president to fill the CWC through nominations. It makes the AICC delegates 'all the President's persons'," said a senior party leader, who is considering to take up the matter.