Senior Congress office-bearers can’t vote from state assigned to them: Mistry

In a statement, Congress' Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry asked senior office-bearers to vote at booths in their home states or AICC offices

NEW DELHI: General secretaries of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), state in-charges, secretaries and joint secretaries will not be allowed to vote in the upcoming presidential election from the states assigned to them, Congress central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry said in a statement. He asked them to cast their votes at booths in their home states or AICC offices.

“In order to remain impartial and maintain transparency in the election process. Central election authority has decided that no AICC general secretaries/state in-charges, secretaries or joint secretaries would be allowed to cast their vote at their assigned state,” Mistry said.

Elections for the Congress president’s post will be held on October 17 after a gap of 22 years. The result will be declared on October 19.

Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor is contesting the elections against Rajya Sabha MP party colleague Mallikarjun Kharge.

On Wednesday, Mistry rebutted Shashi Tharoor’s allegations of an “uneven playing field” and said the poll panel will conduct free and fair voting for the Congress president’s post.

Tharoor, who is contesting for the Congress president’s post against party colleague Mallikarjun Kharge, told a news channel last week there were indications of an “uneven playing field”, adding that some Congress leaders were under pressure to back the Rajya Sabha MP.

Mistry said the allegations are “absolutely false”. “I’ve no answer to allegations levelled before the media but if someone draws our attention to any wrongdoing, we’ll rectify it,” he added.

Earlier, Kharge said, “The delegates are coming on their own. Should I say no to them? If you are popular, people know you, and delegates will come. Our campaigners are very strong, they are doing it.”