Congress prez poll: AICC rejects demand for making electoral rolls public

Thiruvananthapuram: The AICC on Wednesday rejected a section of party leaders' demand that the electoral rolls for the Congress presidential polls be made public, saying it was an "in-house procedure" and any member can get its copy from any of the Pradesh Congress Committee offices.

All India Congress Committee general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, who was in Kerala to review the arrangements being made for the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra next week, said any party member can check the copy of the electoral rolls at any of the PCC offices.

"This is an in-house procedure and it is not supposed to be published for all the public to see," Venugopal told reporters in Alappuzha, while responding to a query.

Talking to PTI, the senior leader said Madhusudan Mistry, who is the chairman of the Congress' central election authority, has already given a statement to the media in this regard.

"There is no such practice in the Congress. We will continue to follow the old practice," Venugopal said.

His statement comes as voices seeking fairness in the upcoming polls to elect the new Congress president grew louder on Wednesday, with party leaders Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor and Karti Chidambaram demanding that electoral rolls be made public to ensure transparency in the process.