Tiwari cited a tweet written by Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, son of P Chidambaram, and raised the issue in the election process.
Chidambaram had written, "Every election needs a well-defined and clear electoral college. The process of forming the electoral college must also be clear, well-defined, and transparent. An ad hoc electoral college is no electoral college".
Tiwari mentioned Chidamabaram's tweet on his official Twitter account and added, " My colleague in Parliament Karti Chidambaram is spot on. For any election to be kosher the electoral college must be constitutionally constituted. I read in the papers Anand Sharma had articulated this widely shared concern in the CWC & he even publicly confirmed that he had raised it".
In a series of tweets, the Congress MP questioned how can there be a fair and free election without a publicly available electoral roll? "The essence of a fair and free process is names and addresses of electors must be published on Congress website in a transparent manner," he said.
Congress MP and G-23 leader Tewari raised objections to the party not making public the names of electors for the party president poll, and said it must be published on the AICC website to ensure transparency.
"Why should someone have to go to every PCC office in the country to find out who the electors are? This does not happen in a club election also with great respect. In interests of fairness and transparency, I urge your good self to publish the entire list of electors on Congress website. How can someone consider running if he/she does not know who the electors are. If someone has to file his/her nomination and gets it proposed by 10 Congresspersons as is requirement CEA can reject it saying they are not valid electors," he added.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who has expressed his intent to contest the party's presidential election, agreed with Tewari, and said everybody should know who can nominate and who can vote.
"Certainly, I think it's important that everybody should have transparency on the electoral rolls. If that's what Manish has asked for, then I'm sure that it's a principle that everybody would agree. Everybody should know who can nominate and who can vote. There is nothing wrong with that," Tharoor said at a function in Thiruvananthapuram, while concurring with Tewari.
Additionally, Congress MP Anand Sharma also raised objections to the poll process at the last meeting of the CWC. He also asked whether the sanctity of the poll process was followed as per the party's Constitution
A wave of resentment can be seen in Congress party, which already received a blow last week after veteran party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad offered his resignation after serving the party for more than five decades.
In a hard-hitting five-page note to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, Azad, wrote, "The entire organisational election process is a farce and a sham. At no place anywhere in the country have elections been held at any level of the organisation. Handpicked lieutenants of the AICC have been coerced to sign on lists prepared by the coterie that runs the AICC sitting in 24, Akbar Road."
Hitting out at Rahul Gandhi, Azad wrote, "Since the 2019 elections the situation in the party has only worsened. After Rahul Gandhi stepped down in a 'huff' and not before insulting all the senior Party functionaries who have given their lives to the party in a meeting of the extended Working Committee, you took over as interim President. A position that you have continued to hold even today for the past three years."
Congress Working Committee (CWC) had on Sunday decided that the election for the Congress president post will be held on October 17, said sources. The counting of votes will be done on October 19.
This comes in the backdrop of the party's senior leader Gulam Nabi Azad's resignation on Friday. According to sources, the election for the post of president has now become a challenge for Congress with the reluctance of Rahul Gandhi to contest the polls.
The Central Election Authority has made preparations to complete the election process on time. The process seems to remain stuck since Rahul Gandhi is not willing to contest the election for the post of Congress president, although all the efforts to convince him are still going on, according to the media reports.
