Sharma raises questions on electoral rolls for Cong prez poll at CWC: Sources

Dissident Congress leader Anand Sharma on Sunday raised questions during the crucial Congress Working Committee meeting on the preparation of electoral rolls for the All India  Congress Committee president's election and asked whether due process under the party's constitution was followed or not, sources said.

Speaking at the CWC meeting before the party's central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry listed out the schedule for the election of the Congress president, Sharma claimed he has received complaints that neither any virtual nor any physical meeting was held to finalise the electoral rolls, the sources said.

They said that Sharma, who is among the G-23 dissident leaders, also pointed out that no Pradesh Congress Committee has received any list of delegates who will vote for the Congress president's election and such a process violates the sanctity of the election process.

The veteran leader had a week ago resigned from the chairmanship of the party's steering committee for Himachal Pradesh, saying he was left with no choice after the 'continuing exclusion and insults.'

Sharma, the sources said, also called for making public the electoral lists of delegates voting for the election, to which Mistry said the same will be made available to any candidate desiring to contest as well as the PCCS.

Mistry said there are over 9,000 delegates who will vote for the Congres president's election and all the lists have been verified and signed by the poll returning officers.

The CWC meeting took place amid a fresh upheaval in the party due to the shock resignation of veteran letter Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday and his stinging letter to the party president in which he lashed out at Rahul Gandhi for "demolishing the party's entire consultative mechanism".

Azad and Sharma were part of the group of 23 dissident leaders who had written to Sonia Gandhi in 2020 seeking large-scale reforms, including elections at all levels of the organisation.

The online CWC meeting was presided over by Sonia Gandhi, who is abroad for medical checkups.