NEW DELHI: Can a person be elected “unopposed” before the Electoral College is notified or even fully formed? The question has been raised by some senior, Congress leaders, who point out that Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao has been elected the president of the Ail India Congress Committee when the process of forming the Pradesh Congress committees was still on in many states. The PCCs form the Electoral College to choose the Congress president,
Defendants of the February 27 declaration by which Rao became the Congress president aver that the Electoral College was legally complete, because the old PCCs are supposed to be in office till the new ones take over. But, the others point out; the general secretary in charge of the organizational elections and the Union Agriculture Minister, Balram Jakhars did not even care to ensure that the names of all members of the Electoral College were made available at the party headquarters here. Under the Congress constitution, it is mandatory to announce the list of the electorate before announcing the election schedule. In case anyone apart from PV had wanted to stand for the post of party president, he would have been perfectly within his rights to Demand this list. As it happened Jakharused Article 18ofthepanty Constitution to see the Prime Ministers election through. The article states that if there remains lonely one candidate he shall be declared duly elected as the president for the next party session.
According to some veteran Congress leaders, the entire process of electing the Congress President was “strange.” After nominations were invited for the Party chief’s post, various state units passed resolutions favoring Rao. There is no provision in the Congress constitution to do so.
In some states like Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the resolutions were passed in the PCC meetings presided over by the outgoing state unit chiefs, who were just nominated leaders of their respective party units. Under rule 17 (Article 14) of the Congress constitution, the first meeting of the PCCs should have been presided over by the Pradesh Returning officer or, in his absence, a nominee of the Working Committee, in the meeting, the party statute says, the new PCC president shall be elected. This did not happen and a series of resolutions was passed, saying that the decision regarding the new PCC chiefs should be left to the party chief. Many in the Congress feel that this “irregularity” was actually committed by the “coterie” that used to be close to Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. The coterie, it is being alleged, hijacked and sabotaged the party polls in the hope of retaining the hold on the Congress which it had all these years due to proximity to the powers that be in the party. Congressmen say members of the coterie got themselves well entrenched in the name of consensus and they had Rao declared the elected AICC president with much FAM fare, giving the norms the giving there was little chance of nation, Rao s unopposed elevation was considered a near certainty.
Emboldened by their cooperation in getting the AICC chief elected unopposed, the old straps are keen to be renominated by Rao, though everyone in the partagroes that Rao would have been elected anyway, with of without the backing of any particular group. This is the reciprocity they expect from the party high command, Due to their intense lobbying in the capita, the issue of the selection of the PCC presidents is likely to be referred to the new CWC. Earlier, this job was entrusted by the Prime Minister to some of his cabinet colleagues, Home Minister S.B.Chavan was asked to resolve the vexed question of leadership in UP and Parliamentary
Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was to help in resolving the issue, “The many rounds of discussions with the state leaders appear to be an unending process.
Few will be surprised nothing is resolved in the next few weeks, and the nominated old hands Participate in the Tripatti session as the party bosses of their respective states,
The plenary session, which is being held after a gap of nearly seven years, is likely to be a window dressing exercise of the AIC establishment, according to Senior Congress Leaders. PV has managed a unanimous election for himself; in the process he has also allowed his lieutenant is to browbeat those party workers who were able to muster grassroots support from the newly enrolled members. Most of the brow beating has been done in the name of consensus.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 27, 1992