Anand Sharma demands distribution of electoral rolls Pradesh Congress Committee and District Congress Committee

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The recent explosive resignation action of veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad was not a subject of discussion at today’s crucial Congress meeting to approve the dates for the election of a new President. Anand Sharma, a dissident Congress leader, reportedly demanded that the electoral rolls of the Pradesh Congress Committee and District Congress Committee be distributed and made public in order to protest the creation of electoral rolls for the presidential elections. Sonia Gandhi, the president of the Congress, approved it, despite Mr. Sharma’s claim that the CWC has not yet met.

At the CWC meeting, Mr. Sharma claimed he had received complaints that neither a virtual nor a physical meeting had been held to finalise the electoral rolls, according to sources. This was before the party’s Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry listed out the schedule for the election of the Congress president.

A list of delegates who will vote for the election of the Congress President has not been sent to any Pradesh Congress Committee, according to Mr. Sharma, one of the G-23 dissident leaders, and this approach undermines the integrity of the electoral process.

Anand Sharma 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”.

The crucial Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting takes place just days after Ghulam Nabi Azad, a former veteran and G-23 dissident, explosively resigned from the party, criticising Rahul Gandhi for his “childish behaviour,” “glaring immaturity,” and for allowing a “coterie of inexperienced sycophants” to run the party. He also attacked Rahul Gandhi for “demolishing the party’s entire consultation mechanism” in his letter to party leader Sonia Gandhi.

In a letter to Sonia Gandhi in 2020, 23 dissident leaders called for extensive reforms, including elections at all levels of the organisation. Mr. Azad and Mr. Sharma were among them.

Sonia Gandhi, who is away receiving medical care, served as the meeting’s chair.