The process to complete the organisational polls of the Congress party to elect a new party chief by September this year has received a fresh push. Sources said, at a meeting on Wednesday, it was decided that the Central Election Authority, headed by Madhusudan Mistry, would be using the electoral list that is being prepared through the digital membership drive.
The drive is being overseen up by the Data Analytics team headed by Praveen Chakravarty. And amidst the turmoil over its repeated electoral debacles and questions about leadership, the Congress has enrolled about 2.15 crore digital members until Friday.
Based on this membership drive that is on until April 15, the electoral college list is being prepared to complete the party’s internal polls, from block to State level, by the end of May.
Sources said, at a meeting on Wednesday, it was decided that the Central Election Authority would be using the data thrown up by the Data Analytics team. In all, about 3.2 crore members, spread 11 lakh polling booths across the country, are expected to be a part of the organisational proces.
While the immediate goal of the digital membership drive is to complete the internal organisational polls at all levels by July-August this year, one of the key aims is also to attract key demographic segments to the party ahead of the Lok Sabha 2024 polls.
Based on the data analysed from enrollment so far, about 59% of the newly enrolled members are below the age of 35 years and 42% of them are women.
Other interesting data point shows that nearly 32% of the newly enrolled members belong to Other Backward Classes (OBC), 21% belong to Scheduled Castes, 12 % for Scheduled Tribes while religious minorities account for 10%.
“The digital membership drive is a good x-ray of where we stand in terms of organisation in each State. Typically, we have done well in terms of enrollment in the South Indian States, Maharashtra and Assam. Among the Hindi heartland States, Haryana is an exception where we have done well,” said a functionary who is involved in the drive.
The digital membership drive in Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) started only on Friday, as some of the States, where elections were held in February and March, could not carry out the drive earlier.
To do away with the practice of enrolling “fake or ghost members”, the party claims it has adopted a multi-tier verification process. A new Android app, the Congress Membership App, has been created that can be accessed by party leaders, office bearers and workers.
Using this app, designated “enrollers” collect mobile number, voter ID number, photograph, caste category, religion and occupation details.
“Members go through a four step verification process. They are first verified by the enroller, then their mobile number is verified with an OTP, voter ID number and photo is matched through the app. Once a member is verified after these four steps, they are issued a digital ID card with a unique QR Code for authenticity,” said a functionary, engaged with the membership drive.
However, senior leaders including Congress Working Committee (CWC) members are said to have raised issues about the design and functioning of the app.
“It’s a tightly controlled app and can easily be used to manipulate the electoral college that will eventually even who gets elected to the CWC,”said a senior leader.
