About one-third of votes polled in youth Congress elections rejected for discrepancy

The election process, which includes nominations, enrolment of voters, and polling was launched on 12 November, and completed on 12 December.

Mumbai: About one-third of over 19 lakh votes polled in the internal elections to choose office-bearers of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) in Maharashtra were rejected due to malpractices like voters exercising their franchise multiple times, data inconsistencies and other anomalies.

Shivani, the daughter of minister Vijay Wadettiwar, and Abhijit Chavan, the grandson of former minister Madhukarrao Chavan, are in the fray for the general secretary’s position. (REUTERS)

The election process, which includes nominations, enrolment of voters, and polling was launched on 12 November, and completed on 12 December. For the first time, polls were conducted online, using an app-based system, where voters had to enrol as IYC members using documents to establish their identity, and then exercise their franchise.

These internal elections were launched over a decade ago in the IYC in an ambitious exercise aimed at ushering internal democracy in the organization and promoting young blood in the ranks. However, these polls, which replaced the system of appointing office-bearers, have seen political dynasts pip ordinary workers to these positions.

Kunal Raut, the son of energy minister Nitin Raut, Sharan Patil, the son of former minister and incumbent Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) working president Basavraj Patil and Aniket Mhatre, the son of former Navi Mumbai deputy mayor Ramakant Mhatre are contesting for the president’s post.

Shivani, the daughter of minister Vijay Wadettiwar, and Abhijit Chavan, the grandson of former minister Madhukarrao Chavan, are in the fray for the general secretary’s position.

Kunal Banerjee, the Election Commissioner for these polls, said 19,04,567 votes had been polled of which 3,01,884 were rejected and 2,07,809 were kept “on hold” due to inconsistencies. Thus, 13,94,874 votes were valid. These votes were scrutinized using software and also manually by the IYC technical team.

“The rejections happened because voters did not follow proper process during enrolment and voting,” he explained.

Banerjee said that 2,07,809 voters, whose votes were kept “on hold”, were allowed to make necessary changes but only 5,176 responded. These responses are being audited and other votes will be rejected.

“The rejections happened due to a mismatch in the photo on the documents and the live photo that the voters had to upload, a different id proof being used, the live photo not being uploaded, and the same voter voting multiple times. If the data is correct and there is a small mismatch, like a difference between the spelling in the name and the id proof, the photo not being clear, and a mismatch in the OTP, these votes were kept on hold,” added an IYC functionary.

Another leader, who was overseeing the exercise, said that there were instances of members voting multiple times (to boost the chances of a candidate) and of casting one vote using an Aadhaar card and the other through a voter id.

“The scrutiny process ended on 28 February and it will take around 10 days for the internal audit to be concluded after which the results will be announced. We expect the results to be out around 10 March,” said Banerjee.

While the state, district and assembly committees will be announced, the candidates polling the top three number of votes will be interviewed by the IYC central leadership and one of them will be appointed as the president, with the other two as the vice-presidents.

“This enrollment-based system was launched to benefit common workers as against the appointment-based system where those who were close to central functionaries would steal a march. However, political scions have dominated others by registering voters like students from educational institutions and even paying their membership fees,” said a candidate who is in the fray.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) too has alleged that Congress ministers had misused official machinery to enrol voters.

Congress launched organizational elections in 2008 in the IYC and National Students Union of India (NSUI) at senior leader Rahul Gandhi’s initiative. Like in Maharashtra, IYC elections have been conducted online in states like Punjab, Karnataka, Haryana, Gujarat, Telangana and Jharkhand and the process is underway in Tamil Nadu.

Since 2011, internal elections in Maharashtra saw Vishwajeet Kadam, the son of former minister late Patangrao Kadam, being elected as the president for two successive three-year terms.

Satyajit Tambe, the nephew of revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat, is the present IYC Maharashtra president. He defeated Amit, the son of former minister Subhash Zanak, and Kunal Raut. Zanak, a MLA from Risod, and Kunal, were appointed as the vice-presidents. These polls saw allegations of rigging.

So far, three politicians from Maharashtra have helmed the IYC nationally, namely, Gurudas Kamat (1987-88), Mukul Wasnik (1988-90) and Rajiv Satav (2010-14).