Primaries of problems and promise

By and large, the method, if continued, has the potential to shake the party out of the general slumber it has been lulled into by the constancy of power over the last 63 years. It could energise Congress units to be more disciplined with the grassroots leadership having a larger say than just being titles.

But as UP leader Beni Prasad Verma has said, the system may not work in all situations. “Rahul’s initiative is pure, it is democratic. But the environment in UP is not conducive to following this system,” he has said. Rahul himself, when asked why Amethi and Rae Bareli had not been chosen for the primaries, had admitted it would have been a no-contest.

In Bangalore North and Dakshina Kannada in Karnataka, the primaries snatched the power to pick candidates from a cabal of elite senior party leaders and handed it to representatives of thousands of party workers: block presidents, Youth Congress members, and student unions and Mahila Morcha leaders.

“Instead of five people holding all the power and making money through seat allocations the primaries are distributing power among 1,000 party workers,’’ says the secretary-in-charge of AICC frontal organisations, Suraj M N Hegde. He said the primaries managed to wipe out complaints that seats are being sold by office- bearers entrusted with picking candidates.

The primaries also seem to have brought together the cadre. In Dakshina Kannada, Janardhan Poojary, who is viewed as being cantankerous, had been isolated from workers. In the 2009 polls he had cut a solitary figure as he walked house to house seeking votes with little or no support from Congress units. The primary created a sympathy wave of sorts and Congress units across the constituency came together to ensure the minister from Indira Gandhi’s days has a last hurrah.

“For the Congress to get 500-plus key workers from a constituency together under a roof, ahead of an election, would normally take months. The primary managed to do it in a few days,” says Hegde.

By vesting voting powers in constituency-level office-bearers, the primaries helped the Congress breathe life into party units. “People in the party have become aware of the importance of their posts they have been holding,” said Nitin Thumbalkar.

The Youth Congress was a key part of the primaries. Workers who were the returning officers impressed veteran leaders with the way they conducted the polls and themselves. They refused voting permission to a group of 50 voters for an MLA who is close to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah after they arrived late on voting day. In Dakshina Kannada, they turned away a sitting MLA for being late. “The returning officers never took a favour from us – even for a cup of coffee they insisted on paying themselves,’’ an office-bearer said.

On the down side, some people have alleged that the 576 voters in Bangalore North were offered Rs 1 lakh each for a vote by a wealthy candidate. “When you are trying to clean up a house, you are bound to get some dirt on yourself,’’ said Jaspreet Singh, a returning officer.

The criticism that the primaries are inefficient was voiced frequently by senior leaders in private. “The decision must be left to the wisdom of senior leaders. In many places our rivals launched their campaigns while we were busy with the primaries,’’ said one.

The winner in Bangalore North, C Narayanaswamy, however, served as an example of the positives. Inducted barely a year ago from the JD(S), he would have stood little chance of getting the ticket. In the primaries, with the support of Siddaramaiah and three powerful local MLAs, he grabbed the majority. “The primary has chosen the most popular of the lightweights. The onus of ensuring victory is now on those who backed him,” a senior leader said.

According to the AICC’s Hegde, the way forward for the primaries has not been decided yet. “Next time it may be for all constituencies,” he said.