Congress Presidential Election: Leaked Tapes Suggest Rahul Gandhi’s Expected Elevation as Party President Rigged

The leaked audio tape poses questions to the process of organisational elections in Congress and the party's claims that the Presidential elections are conducted through "a fair and free vote".

New Delhi, Dec 2: Days after Congress leader Shehzad Poonawalla questioned Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi‘s expected elevation as Congress president claiming that the Presidential polls for the party president are rigged to favour dynasty, an audio tape of some Congress leaders admitting to it has leaked. An unverified audio tape, accessed by Times Now, poses questions to the process of organisational elections in Congress and the party’s claims that the Presidential elections are conducted through “a fair and free vote”.

In the leaked audio tape, Maharashtra Congress secretary Shehzad Poonawalla could be heard conversing with former Union minister and top party official Manish Tewari. Poonawalla is heard saying that he has never seen a “single secret ballot taking place for the election of delegates”. Poonawalla claims that the delegates “are essentially selected by state president who was also essentially selected by the Congress president.”

To which, Tewari asks him if he has thought all of this through as “this is a one-way ticket out of the party”. “…it doesn’t matter as long as I don’t want any post, I don’t want any ticket from any party. The point is, how long will dynasty, or just the fact that you bear a legacy, override your merit?” askes Poonawalla, the report said.

“The fact is that the Congress is a proprietorship…no party in India is a political party, they are all proprietorships,” says Tewari in the leaked audio tape.

On being asked about the leaked audio tape, Tewari told the Times of India that he wasn’t aware of any such programme being aired on television and claimed that after Poonawalla’s accusations, the party, in fact, tried to distance itself from him.

Earlier, Shehzad Poonawalla questioned the process of organisational elections in the Congress party and claimed that the elevations to the top posts in the grand-old party have been through “selections not elections”.

“Which state president of Congress party was elected? Was vice president of the Congress party elected in 2013? Was Rahul Gandhi elected as general secretary in 2007?” asked Shehzad Poonawalla. Challenging the Congress vice president to allow his leadership be tested through an election, he said, “Let Congress come out and say that all delegates who will vote for Rahul Gandhi in the election have been elected.”