A fresh controversy has hit the election for Chhattisgarh Youth Congress president, with two of the leading contenders for the top post seeing their nominations put on hold. The election committee has held back the papers of Satyendra Chelak and Shailendra Banjare after receiving complaints that both had got people enrolled as party members in exchange for money, and has now sent them a formal notice demanding a written response.
What the notice alleges
The notice issued by the election committee accuses Satyendra Chelak and Shailendra Banjare of getting people enrolled as members through a private agency. The committee has termed this a direct violation of the election's code of conduct. Both candidates have been asked to explain, in writing, why action should not be taken against them under the rules for breaching the code of conduct. They have been given time until 7 pm on September 8 to send in their explanation. The committee has made it clear that if no response arrives within that window, it will be treated as the candidate having no objection to raise and choosing not to offer any clarification at all, after which further action will follow strictly as per the rules.
No final call yet on their candidacy
As of now, there has been no final decision on whether Satyendra Chelak and Shailendra Banjare will remain in the race. Their path forward now hinges on how the Congress election committee judges their written response, whether the panel is satisfied with their explanation will decide if their candidacy is allowed to proceed. In the meantime, following the complaint and the notice, the names of both candidates have already been removed from the app used to run the election, a sign of how seriously the committee is treating the matter. The episode has triggered fresh discussion within the Congress party over how the Youth Congress presidential election is being conducted.
Not the first flashpoint in this election
This is not the first time the Chhattisgarh Youth Congress election has run into trouble. Party workers have earlier raised objections and complaints over the election process and its rules. A few days ago, state in-charge Smriti Ranjan Lenka toured the state in view of the election, but the controversy did not die down even after that visit. Following Lenka's tour, Chhattisgarh Congress president Deepak Baij himself raised an objection with the party's national leadership over the election process. Last month, Baij wrote a letter to Youth Congress national president Uday Bhanu Chib, asking that the election for assembly-level president posts be deferred in districts that follow a one district, one assembly structure.
Fears of a coordination problem
In his letter, PCC chief Deepak Baij argued that holding separate elections for district president and assembly president in districts with only a single assembly seat could create coordination problems within the organisation, and that such districts should not go to the polls for the assembly president post right now. However, in districts that have two, or more than three, assembly constituencies, he said the appointment of both the district president and the assembly president could continue through the process already in place. According to Baij, this would keep coordination within the organisation intact without disrupting its day-to-day functioning. Taken together, the latest membership controversy adds one more chapter to an election that was already dogged by disputes over its process.
