Now smart-card-carrying Cong worker

Apart from allowing members to directly talk to the high command and remain in touch with the All India Congress Committee, the party hopes the cards will also help cut bogus membership at the lower level. Called ‘OmVCard,’ it was approved by Sonia after a series of modifications last month.

The plan—dubbed ‘‘dynamic networking of party infrastructure’’—is being implemented by the AICC’s Central Election Committee (CEC), while the technology is being provided by a Delhi-based company, MGRM Net. Says CEC chairman Ram Niwas Mirdha: ‘‘The idea is to make the Congress a modern party, as opposite to any other party in the country.’’

Since most of the Pradesh Congress Committees (PCCs) and district Congress committees (DCCs) have computers, all the party needs to do, says Mirdha, is to enable these for use of smart cards. Apart from party offices, however, the cards will be equipped for use on the Net anywhere in the country through a series of access codes, specific to each person.

While the cost right now is around Rs 200 per card, the price is expected to come down when bulk orders (the active membership of the Congress stands at over 11 lakh) are issued. The over two crore primary members of the party will get a simpler card, with limited access, costing Rs 20.

According to Mirdha, the idea was that before preparing the strategy for the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress should be armed with profiles on its members. There was also serious concern over the infiltration of large numbers of bogus members into the party. The last census conducted by the party, during the 2000 organisational elections, showed it had 11,65,683 active members and 2,93,45,459 primary ones. ‘‘At present there is no way of ascertaining who exactly is the person calling himself a member of the party. There are no photographs, no background. The members do not even have numbered identity cards,’’ Mirdha points out.

‘‘The smart cards would be issued selectively,’’ he adds. ‘‘In the first phase to office-bearers in the AICC and PCCs, and then to AICC members. The next phase will feature active members.’’

Through the card, a member can log on to websites of the party—including those of the party president, AICC and state units—and post what he or she is doing. A member will be pulled up for not doing this on a regular basis. The websites, it is hoped, would thus become a bank of intelligence on each area, keeping members updated on the movement of other leaders in the areas, besides other local information.

Mirdha adds that the present membership drive, to conclude on November 15, would be the last one to follow the old method, where members were admitted just through filing an application form.