First phase of Youth Cong polls concludes

The organisational structure which used to be determined through nominations all these years will now see elected members at the helm. Only those in the age group of 18 to 35 years are eligible to take part in the election.

The Youth Congress conducted its membership drive in the State this April, which saw enrolment of 5.50 lakh members – substantially low compared to neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu, which has over 14 lakh members. The party also could not meet its target in the first round of elections (booth level) which were held between September 16 and 21. According to sources, out of 46,273 booths in the State, less than 30,000 booths went through the polling process.

Election results of all the booths are yet to be announced. However, a five-member committee (president, vice president and three general secretaries) is elected. Only these members are eligible to vote or contest for the next level of elections scheduled for October 8 and 9. The elected members will be given three ballots – ‘Assembly level’, ‘Lok Sabha level’ and ‘State level’, through which they have to choose their candidates. Nominations for this process will be done on September 23.

The State Committee will comprise 10 members – president (open), vice-president (open), three  general secretaries (open), five general secretaries – reserved for SC/ST; OBC; minority, women, and SC/ST women. While the booth-level elections requires for a candidate to get two votes in his/her favour, the Assembly level requires 10 votes.
The candidates have to bag a minimum of 20 votes, each for the Lok Sabha and State elections.

The entire election process is being audited and monitored by the Foundation for Advanced Management of Elections (FAME), an NGO founded by former Chief Election Commissioner J M Lyngdoh.