Congress president poll: 219 Punjab delegates cast vote

Chandigarh, October 17

As many as 219 out of 237 delegates from the state exercised their franchise to elect the All India Congress Committee (AICC) president on Monday. The poll percentage stood at 92.40 per cent.

Amid reports of senior leaders, including former ministers being left out of the voter list, the polling passed off peacefully at the Punjab Congress Bhawan here.

Pradesh Congress Committee chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, who were added to the list of delegates yesterday, also cast their votes.

Congress MPs Ravneet Singh Bittu, Manish Tewari and Santokh Chaudhary, including the MLAs and former ministers, exercised their franchise.

Former CM Charanjit Singh Channi, who was among the delegates, failed to cast his vote as he was abroad. Besides, names of senior leaders — Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Sukhjinder Randhawa, Rana Gurjeet Singh and Tript Rajinder Bajwa — were not on the voter list.

A total of 213 delegates voted in Chandigarh and six at other place. Senior leaders said confusion among the co-opted delegates over their voting rights was witnessed as the elections were held after a long gap.

PCC chief countered the charges of Mallikarjun Kharge being the “proxy” presidential candidate of the Gandhi family. He pointed out that even Shashi Tharoor, who was also in the fray, didn’t question the transparency of the poll.

“How can you assume for whom we voted?” asked Warring, adding that there were around 10,000 delegates, who took part in the voting process.

“How can anyone influence 10,000 voters without getting noticed?” he asked, while pointing out that “each and every delegate voted without any compulsion”.

Warring challenged other political parties to conduct elections in their outfits before questioning the Congress.