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Kerala Cong prepares for party polls

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

The Congress in Kerala has kicked-off the process of its organisational elections after a gap of nearly eight years. Several attempts at holding party elections during this period were abandoned following opposition from some factions within the organisation.

The decision to hold party elections was taken at a meeting of the executive committee of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee held in the presence of all-India general secretary Edward Falerio at Thiruvananthapuram yesterday. Senior leader and Congress Working Committee member A K Antony was also present.

The decision followed a complaint made by former KPCC president, Vayalar Ravi, to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. In a letter written to Sonia, he had alleged that the state leadership was trying to postpone the elections and fill the posts with their own favourites.

Ravi's letter came up for discussion at the executive committee yesterday and several members supported him.

Antony endorsed Ravi's view saying that the party should not fight shy of holding the elections. He said that the Congressmen had learnt their lessons and would not jeopardise the party unity. ''The partymen are capable of amicably going to the polls to elect a new leadership,'' he said.

The Karunakaran faction had earlier accused Ravi of jeopardising the party's unity by demanding an election.

Party vice-president K Muraleedharan, however, denied any differences in the party over the conduct of the election while talking to newsmen after the meeting.

He said the process of enrolling new members would start soon and revealed that district presidents had already received membership forms for this.

Enrolment of new members would be concluded by February 7. The last date for receipt of membership books would be February 14.

"Organisational elections are a necessity as the Election Commission has issued a ruling that the recognition of those parties which do not conduct party polls would be cancelled," Muraleedharan said.

According to All India Congress Committee guidelines, the election would be by secret ballot.

The Karunakaran had earlier opposed election through this method and it was this resistance that had led to violence during the previous attempts at holding polls.

Muralidharan hoped that the party workers would not allow factionalism to creep into the election process this time.

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