Congress Plenary Session: 1,338 AICC delegates with voting powers among 15,000 delegates

The session will discuss the path forward for the party that hopes to shrug off electoral defeats of the past nine years to take on the BJP

Around 15,000 delegates drawn from different levels, including 1,825 elected and co-opted AICC delegates, will converge in Chhattisgarh’s Nava Raipur for three days from this Friday for the ‘Haath se Haath Jodo’ Congress Plenary Session that is dubbed as a milestone journey towards 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The session, which will take the spirit of the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the declaration at the Udaipur Chintan Shivir forward, will have ‘Haath se Haath Jodo’ (Joining hands) as its tagline and would discuss the path forward for the party that hopes to shrug off electoral defeats of the past nine years to take on the BJP.

Of the around 15,000 delegates, 1,338 are elected while another 487 are co-opted AICC delegates, 9,915 are Pradesh Congress Committee delegates and another 3,000 co-opted PCC delegates. These also include all district presidents, 'bharat yatris' and office bearers of frontal organisations.

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The break of the composition of the AICC delegates, which includes 1,338 who have voting rights to choose the Congress Working Committee if an election takes place, showed that 704 are from general category, 228 from minority communities, 381 from Other Backward Classes, Dalits 192 and 133 tribals

Among them, Congress General Secretary and Chhattisgarh in-charge Kumari Selja said 235 are women and 501 delegates are below the age of 50 years.

"You all know how much energy has the Bharat Jodo Yatra infused into the party and it has given a clear-cut direction on how to take up current issues to the public," Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal told a press conference.

He said the country is witnessing “total authoritarianism” where the Opposition is “crushed and not allowed to function”. The Plenary will be a “clear reflection” of the sentiments of the yatra and a clear extension of the Udaipur conclave, he said.

Congress General Secretary Tarique Anwar said the Plenary will give a way forward for the party with respect to the state elections in 2023 and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

While the Steering Committee will finalise the agenda for the session and fine-tune resolutions prepared by the drafting committee headed by Jairam Ramesh on February 24, the Subjects Committee will meet in the evening on the same day to give a go-ahead for these decisions.

The delegates will discuss the resolutions in the next two days. Congress Treasurer Pawan Bansal said the Plenary will end at 2 PM on February 26 and there will be a public rally later in the evening.

Selja said the Plenary venue is named after eminent freedom fighter Veer Narain Singh Nagar while the rally venue is named after late Motilal Vohra, a former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress national treasurer for long.