Cong youth wings head for party polls

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's pet project of introducing "inner -party democracy" and ending the "nomination culture"...

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi8217;s pet project of introducing 8220;inner -party democracy8221; and ending the 8220;nomination culture8221; in the party looks set to get off the ground with its youth wing, the Indian Youth Congress IYC and the student8217;s wing, the National Students Union of India NSUI, deciding to go in for direct organisational elections all over the country in the coming months.

The Amethi MP had, as part of the All India Congress Committee8217;s 8220;Group to look into future challenges8221;, earlier chosen Punjab and Uttarakhand for the pilot project in the democratisation exercise.

It will now be mandatory for the fresh recruits in the IYC and NSUI to have compulsory photo I cards and a 8220;code of ethics8221; along with a 8220;mechanism to measure the output8221; of active workers is being worked out to streamline the functioning of the two organisations. The J M Lyngdoh-headed Foundation for Advanced Management of Elections FAME, that was drafted to conduct the elections in the Youth Congress in Punjab, and later in the NSUI in Uttarakhand, saw a serious structural problem in form of fake membership, and hence suggested a system of photo I cards for the exercise. K J Rao, who like Lyngdoh is a former Election Commission functionary, and a top FAME official, confirms that fake membership, indeed, posed a problem by the sections not too keen on direct elections.

After concluding the elections in the two states by the first week of December, the direct election mechanism would then be implemented in the rest of the country. 8220;We shall complete direct elections in the IYC units in all the states in the next one year,8221; says IYC chief Ashok Tanwar. The NSUI would follow suit.

The BJP8217;s youth wing 8212; the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha BJYM, and the students8217; wing of the RSS8212; the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad ABVP, or the CPI-M8217;s youth win8211; 8211; the Democratic Youth Federation of India DYFI or the students8217; wi8211;g 8211; the Students8217; Federation of India SFI don8217;t have a system of direct elections or photo I cards for its members. Says Congress media department chairman M Veerappa Moily, who also heads the party8217;s 8220;group to look into future challenges8221;: 8220;We have already given our report on inner-party democracy to the leadership. What Rahul is doing in the two organisations under his charge is the only way to rejuvenate the party8221;.