Ajay Maken to Congress: Include New Delhi Parliamentary constituency in primaries list

Requesting the Congress Party to include the New Delhi Parliamentary constituency in the list of primaries ahead of this year's Lok Sabha polls, party general secretary Ajay Maken on Saturday said this decision would help both workers and the common man to select their own Lok Sabha candidates.

"I have requested my party to include the New Delhi Parliamentary constituency, which I represent in the Lok Sabha, to be included amongst the list of constituencies, for which 'primaries' are going to be held. The reason is that this idea of Rahul Gandhi to have common person's voice in the selection of candidates is something we all support,' he said.

"And once when the New Delhi Parliamentary constituency is included, then the candidate from this constituency will not be decided by the party high command, but by common people, by workers and by ordinary people in the constituency," he added.

Lauding Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's idea of including 15 to 16 constituencies for the list of primaries, Maken dubbed it a landmark decision, and added that it will usher in tremendous reforms in the political scenario.

"And, this is the way how Rahulji thinks that we should open the system and change it. He wants organizational elections to take place in a transparent manner. He feels very strongly that when we open up the system, any person who agrees with the ideology of our party, can join the political party, become officer bearers, and in turn, contest the elections, be elected as a candidate before going for elections," he said.

"This is the only way how we can reform the system by opening the system. Rahul Gandhi's idea is something for which 15-16 constituencies have been selected, and I have requested to include my constituency so that the workers from this constituency have the power to select their own candidate from the Congress Party," he added.

According to the party website, the Congress is the first national party to bring in such a process in India. This is a pilot run, claims its web site.

"The Congress Party is conducting primaries in around 15 Lok Sabha constituencies across the country in the run-up to the Lok Sabha Elections 2014. Primaries are one of the many ways by which a political party can decide its candidate for an upcoming election. It is a system which allows for a broader participation of party supporters in deciding who should be a candidate from their constituency from that party," the party said on its website.

"It makes the ticket allotment process fair and more transparent. If successful, the process is likely to be adopted in a much deeper way by the organisation in its ticket allotment process for future Assembly and Lok Sabha elections," it added.