Congress looks to overhaul its Constitution in Plenary Session

Congress removed alcohol consumption as a condition barring someone from becoming a party member

Congress is going in for an overhaul of its Constitution by increasing members in the Working Committee to 35 and reserving half of the seats to Dalits, tribals, OBCs, minorities, women and youth, digital membership, accepting online donations and tightening norms for candidates for party president elections.

The Constitution Amendments Committee led by Ambika Soni on Saturday placed 85 "major and minor" amendments to the party Constitution at the Plenary Session here on Saturday.

One of the amendments that triggered interest was the omission of the word alcohol from a list of conditions for a person to become a member of the party. While the existing provision said that he or she should abstain from "alcoholic drinks and intoxicant drugs", the amendment omitted 'alcoholic' from the provision. The new provision read, "He/She abstains from the use of psychotropic substances, prohibited drugs and intoxicants.”

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Congress General Secretary Randeep Surjewala, who was a member of the Soni-led panel, defended the decision saying, the party is actually expanding the definition and "intoxicants" would include alcohol.

The party projected the 50 per cent reservation for Dalits, tribals, OBCs, minorities, women and youth in CWC and other party forums as a "beginning of a new chapter of social justice". The Constitution has been amended to provide a reservation of 50 per cent for SC/ST/OBCs/Minorities and a horizontal reservation of 50 per cent for Youth and Women in the reserved and unreserved categories for all office bearers and delegates. The concept of “50 Under 50” as enunciated in the Udaipur Shivir has been incorporated into the Constitution.

Interestingly, one of the amendments also made it tough for a Congressman to fight the party presidential election as the number of PCC delegates supporting a candidate has been raised from ten to 100.

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The grand old party is also moving with the times as the Constitution is being amended to accept donations online. The membership of the party will also move fully to the digital world while the membership fee has been raised from Rs 5 to Rs 10.

"This way we shall reach out to the youth, and we shall be the only political party in India to do so (digital membership). Similarly, we will also adopt online donations" Surjewala said.

The membership forms are also being amended to allow a member to mark their gender as the third gender. It will also have provisions to mention their mother's or wife's name in the membership form.