The Chairman of the Congress’s Central Election Authority (CEA), Mullappilly Ramachandran, is a rather relieved man now. The Election Commission of India (EC) had set a deadline of December 31 for the Congress to complete its organisational polls. Ramachandran, along with CEA members and advisors, and a big team of returning officers, completed the election process — which was due for the last three years — within six months.

The Congress Working Committee (CWC) has accepted his proposal to hold the presidential election, the final stage of the organisational polls of the grand old party. Ramachandran talked to BusinessLine on the efforts involved in the party election. Excerpts:

You had a deadline to meet. How tough was it to hold the election of one of the oldest political parties in the world?

It was a laborious and herculean task. It was not at all simple. Elections were held in more than six lakh booth committees of the party, except the six States, including Gujarat, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh, that went to/are going to polls in the near future. It was not a periodical election held for the sake of holding it. It was a mission. It was a mission to invigorate and activate the party.

How many people got involved in the process?

We are yet to calculate the total number of members in the Congress. As I told you, there were six lakh booths committees and 9,000 block committees. We got the assistance from about 38 pradesh returning officers and assistant pradesh returning officers.

The BJP claims that it is the biggest party. But anyone can take membership in it by just giving a missed call. It is a pathetic situation. In our case, there are certain constitutional criteria to become a member of the Congress. We could meet Congress members and units in even the remotest villages of the country.

Congress is still the pan-India party, whatever may be the allegations of opponents against us. We could not find even a single village without at least 50 Congress workers. This is a great achievement and advantage of the party. It proves that despite electoral setbacks the organisation is strong and we can make it still stronger. This election will help in that process too.

Rahul Gandhi had brought certain electoral changes in the NSUI (National Students’ Union of India) and Youth Congress, not allowing the divisions in the Congress to intervene in deciding the leaders of its frontal organisations. Did you try to emulate it?

We never allowed an external interference in the process. I don’t say that it is a 100 per cent perfect or foolproof process. But within our limits and time constraints we have done our best. It is a team work. It is a collective effort.

The election was announced three years ago. Due to various practical and technical issues, it got postponed twice. Now, it’s the third time that we are completing the process. The time at my disposal was six months. Within that short span of time, I could complete the process. Our team was working round the clock. I have not even gone to my constituency during the process.

What is the next stage? There were some problems in Kerala on the list of PCC members. How do you see it?

All the PCC members have been elected, mostly by way of consensus. Now the question is the election of PCC presidents. That will be decided by the new Congress president. Every PCC has authorised the Congress president to elect the unit presidents and other posts related with it.

Yes, there were some confusion in Kerala. It was unfortunate. Kerala has always been a model of organisational work. But this time they delayed the process. It should not have happened. I am sad about it. They should have shown the way to other States.

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