Tharoor seeks publication of electoral rolls for Cong prez polls

NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has written to the party’s central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry seeking the publication of electoral rolls for the upcoming election to the post of AICC president, sources said on Friday.

Assam MP Pradyut Bordoloi, too, has reportedly written to Mistry asking him to make the electoral rolls public.

Their letters come as voices demanding the publication of the electors’ list grow louder by the day and a debate within the party intensifies.

Tharoor, who is contemplating throwing his hat in the ring, has written to Mistry and sought publication of electoral rolls, sources said.

The nomination process includes 10 proposers who are Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates. According to the sources, the senior leader has said it is important to know about these delegates as papers can get rejected if their names do not feature in the the final list.

On Wednesday, Manish Tewari and Karti Chidambaram along with Tharoor, too, had demanded that electoral rolls be made public to ensure transparency.

Tewari, who is among the G-23 leaders along with Tharoor seeking large scale party reforms, has raised objections to the party not making public the names of electors for the party president polls and said it must be published on the All India Congress Committee website for a “free and fair” process.

Tharoor, who has expressed his intent to contest the party’s presidential election, had agreed with Tewari and said everybody should know who can nominate and who can vote.

“Certainly, I think it’s important that everybody should have transparency on the electoral rolls. If that’s what Manish has asked for, then I’m sure that it’s a principle that everybody would agree with. Everybody should know who can nominate and who can vote.

“There is nothing wrong with that,” Tharoor had said at a function in Thiruvananthapuram.

Another MP Karti Chidambaram had supported the view, saying every election requires a well-defined electoral college.

Mistry, however, has maintained that the election is being held transparently and the entire poll process is free and fair.

He had said earlier this week that according to the party’s constitution, the electoral roll cannot be made public, but it can be provided to anyone contesting the election.

Congress MP Manickam Tagore has countered the leaders demanding the publication of electoral rolls, saying they must not create confusion and should be proud of the “open system”.

The notification for the Congress president’s election will be out on September 22 and the process for filing nominations will be held from September 24 to 30.

The last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 8 and the election, if required, will be held on October 17. The result will be out on October 19.