MP Cong to fix accountability of leaders recommending names for tickets

Bhopal : Next time, the Congress leaders in Madhya Pradesh who will be recommending candidates’ names for tickets for the elections will be responsible for winning that particular seat. This process was introduced for the first time as an experiment during the selection of candidates for the urban body elections which concluded recently. The state Congress leadership has now decided to continue with the system.

Sources in the state Congress, who are privy to the development, that state party chief Kamal Nath had introduced this system during the selection of candidates for the urban body elections. Now, after having won five mayoral posts in 16 municipal corporations in the state, Nath wants to continue with the system during the selection of candidates for the assembly elections in 2023.

The sources informed that during the selection of candidates for the mayoral and councillors’ posts, the Congress leaders, who had recommended names, had given in writing that they will be accountable for the outcome of the results.

“Kamal Nath has introduced this system to avoid factionalism among the party cadre and also to keep the ground level workers united. The party has received a positive response through the system and therefore, he (Nath) has decided to continue with this system,” said a senior Congress functionary.

The sources also claimed that out of the 16 mayoral candidates, most were selected by Kamal Nath while two — the Bhopal and Devas’ mayoral candidates — were recommended by Congress Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh.

“The party is preparing lists of all leaders who had recommended names for candidates in urban body elections. The senior leaders will hold a meeting for an analysis of the overall outcome in the urban body elections. Leaders who had recommended the names for candidates will be called for their reply,” the Congress functionary added.

Out of the 16 municipal corporations across Madhya Pradesh, the ruling BJP which had won all the mayoral posts in the last elections, could retain only nine, the Congress managed to win five mayoral posts, while debutant AAP and an Independent won one mayoral post each.

It is the first time since 1999 that the Congress will have as many as five mayors after direct election for mayoral posts was introduced in Madhya Pradesh.