Congress presidential polls: Shashi Tharoor, other MPs seek transparency in party's election

In a letter to the head of the AICC central election authority, Madhusudan Mistry, five Congress MPs expressed their concerns about the "transparency and fairness" of the election process to choose the party president and asked that the electoral records be safely made available to all voters and prospective candidates.

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Shashi Tharoor, Karti Chidambaram, Pradyut Bordoloi, and Abdul Khaleque, members of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, complained in a letter to Mistry dated September 6 that it was regrettable that their demand for the release of election registers was being interpreted incorrectly.

"We are not suggesting that any internal document of the party should be released in a manner that may give an opportunity to those who wish us ill to misuse the information contained therein," the MPs wrote.

"We are rather of the firm opinion that before the commencement of the nomination process, the party's Central Election Authority (CEA) must provide a list of Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates that make up the electoral college," their letter to Mr Mistry said.

They said it was necessary to make this list available in order to verify who is eligible to nominate a candidate and who is eligible to vote.

"In case the CEA has any concerns with respect to releasing the electoral rolls publicly, it must put in place a mechanism to securely share this information with all electors and potential candidates. Electors and candidates cannot be expected to go to all 28 PCCs and 9 Union Territorial units across the country to verify the electoral rolls," they said.

MPs said this would eliminate any unwarranted arbitrariness in the election process.

"As long as this demand is met, our concern about transparency - a sine qua non in any free and fair election - will be met," the letter said.

The letter's signatories identified themselves as Indian National Congress parliamentarians and expressed worry about the legitimacy of the party's presidential election process.

In 2020, 23 leaders including Mr. Tharoor and Mr. Tiwari wrote to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi for a restructuring of the party. Mr. Tharoor is thinking about standing for president of his political party.

(With inputs from PTI)