Sources at the Congress headquarters here said at several places, the membership forms and fee had been returned because the forms did not have photographs of the newly enrolled members.

The Congress had launched its membership drive in December last year and the party had sold off 53 lakh membership forms in UP. However, so far, only around 25,000 forms have been received at the state headquarters which are complete in all respects.

“It is certainly difficult to arrange photographs in the rural areas and this has been conveyed to us from various districts. I personally informed Oscar Farnandes about this problem during a recent meeting on the membership drive, which was held in Delhi. I have been assured this decision would be reviewed,” said R K Dwivedi, in-charge of membership drive in the state.

“However, until it is reviewed, we are not accepting any forms without pictures,” Dwivedi said.

Asked about the low enrolment, Dwivedi said the party would speed up the drive during the last two months that are still left, and especially during the “intensive membership drive” which the party would carry out from November 10 to November 31.

The special drive would also see participation of MPs and Union ministers and special camps would be organised.

Ajay Singh, president of the Hardoi district Congress, said, “People in villages are refusing

to give their photographs, fearing these might be misused. It is difficult to convince them.” From Hardoi, 25,000 membership applications were returned as they did not have photographs, it is learnt. Another district Congress president said he also faced the same problem and has conveyed this to senior leaders, but was told this was Rahul Gandhi’s idea and had to be implemented in its true spirit. The party has also done away with the dual membership structure, where a member could be ordinary or active. Now all members will be alike. Earlier, anyone who enrolled 25 members was regarded as an active member. Senior leaders said that, in the past, the details of ordinary members were rarely collected. Leaders collected a certain number of forms, deposited their fee and claimed having enrolled one active member for every 25 forms whose details they gave to the party. But even for active members, no photographs were required. In the new system, each state has been given a code, like 2008 is the code for UP, and then the forms given to UP are all numbered and only an application made on this form is accepted. The district party secretaries are supposed to verify each form and sign it. The district Congress office is then expected to give the number at which a particular member is registered in the district membership register.

A similar structure has been introduced in the Youth Congress as well in the state where the membership drive will begin on November 7.