Congress polls -- Vyas manages to have her say, Gehlot keeps mum

Congress polls -- Vyas manages to have her say, Gehlot keeps mum
RAJESH SINHA

JAIPUR, Oct 9: The row in Rajasthan Congress over appointment of block and district-level returning officers for organisational elections was finally ``resolved'' late Sunday night.

Congress sources said that the party's Rajasthan unit president Girja Vyas was given a free hand while finalising and getting persons of her choice appointed, with minor concessions at a few places, such as Jaipur.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot did not press or suggest a single name, except in Jodhpur, where Om Joshi was considered as a common choice. Senior Congress leader Nawal Kishore Sharma had his way in Jaipur with his list for the district being approved with one or two changes.

The list of DROs was released by the Pradesh Congress today while the listof BROs was ready. Chairman of the party's election authority Urmila Ben Patel told journalists that the DROs underwent training today for conducting the party elections and were sent off to begin work.

``Till yesterday it seemed as if party's state unit would see the biggest fight in the elections. But finally everything was decided with consensus between all concerned,'' she remarked. Patel said the election authority heard the views of the partymen. ``The massive task of listening and accommodating their views took us nine days,'' she said.

Problems cropped up with the exercise to appoint returning officers. The DROs and BROs are considered as those who can tilt the balance for or against a candidate in the party elections and the leaders laid great stress on having names of their choice appointed as returning officers. Subsequently, Congressmen thronged the office find out if their men had been approved and appointed.

Patel, however, tried to underplay the role of BROs and DROs in deciding the outcome of elections and said that the polls will reflect party workers' view. She said, ``It was party president Sonia Gandhi's idea to set up an election authority to ensure free and fair party polls and keeping aside internal politics and personal rivalries.''

Unlike other parties, Congress has reserved one-third party posts for women

apart from reservation for SCs and STs, Patel said. While no specific places or positions were reserved for women, the committees at all levels have to ensure that a third of the posts go to women, she added.

Elections are to be held in 344 block and 38 district-level party posts. Thestrength of party workers in the state this year is 26,18,800 with 1,04,752 active workers, Patel added.