Congress President Poll: Shashi Tharoor Demands Publication Of Electoral Rolls, Writes To Mistry

Shashi Tharoor and Assam MP Pradyut Bordoloi are said to have written to Madhusudan Mistry seeking the publication of electoral rolls for the upcoming election to the post of Congress president.

New Delhi Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor is said to have 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 All India Congress Committee's (AICC) president.

Assam MP Pradyut Bordoloi has also written to Mistry asking him to make the electoral rolls public, news agency PTI reported sources as informing on Friday.

Their letters come at a time when voices asking for the publication of the electors' list are being raised causing a debate within the party.

Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor is contemplating throwing his hat in the ring for the Congress President polls. He has written to Mistry and sought publication of electoral rolls, sources told PTI. The nomination process will include 10 proposers who are Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates. 

They said the senior leader contended that it is important to know about these delegates as papers can get rejected if their names do not feature in the final list.

On Wednesday, Manish Tewari and Karti Chidambaram 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, raised objections over the party not making public the names of electors for the party president polls. He said it must be published on the All India Congress Committee website for a "free and fair" process.

At an event in his parliamentary constituency, Shashi Tharoor also 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, as quoted by PTI.

However, the party's central election authority chairman, Madhusudan Mistry, has maintained that the election is being held in a transparent manner and the entire poll process is free and fair.

He had stated 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 also responded to the leaders demanding the publication of electoral rolls, saying that 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. 

(With Agency Inputs)