Controversy over electoral rolls as Congress gears up for presidential poll

New Delhi, Aug 31 (IANS) The process for the Congress President's election has come in spotlight after few leaders questioned the non-availability of electoral rolls in the public domain.Two Congress leaders, Manish Tewari and Karti Chidambaram, on Wednesday urged the Central Election Authority, headed by Madhusudan Mistry, to make the electoral rolls public and available on the Congress website.However, the CEA said that these rolls will be made available to candidates contesting elections. Tewari and Karti Chidambaram had raised concerns over the manner in which the presidential poll in the party is being held.Underlining the need of a well-defined electoral college, Karti Chidambaram said any ad hoc electoral college is meaningless.In a tweet on Wednesday. he said: "Every election needs a well defined & clear electoral college. The process of forming the electoral college must also be clear, well defined & transparent. An ad hoc electoral college is no electoral college."Anandpur Sahib MP Tewari too has raised doubts over the electoral rolls ahead of the party's presidential poll, saying these should be made public to ensure a free and fair election process.Tewari was reacting to veteran party leader Mistry's remark that party members wishing to contest can get access to the list in PCC offices as the list of electors has not been made public.In a series of tweets on Tuesday, he said: "With great respect @MD_Mistry ji How can there be a fair & free election without a publicly available electoral roll ? Essence of a fair & free process is that names & addresses of electors must be published on @INCIndia website in a transparent manner."
--IANS miz/vd

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