Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): At the Congress party candidates’ meeting held at PCC on Tuesday, the candidates blamed the late ticket distribution and lack of coordination on PCC’s part for the party’s defeat.
They also raised the issue of EVMs, weak organisation at both local and state levels and lack of committed workers at the ground level.
Many of them raised the issue of sabotage done by party workers during the election. Some of them complained that Congress workers had left their local constituencies and worked somewhere else which resulted in their losing the elections. They said that in many places the corporators and other block-level party office bearers did not come out from their houses to support the party candidate just because the leader to whom they owed allegiance had been denied tickets.
The candidates have demanded action against such workers who had betrayed the official candidate and party orders during the election.
It was decided at the meeting that the candidates will submit two reports for the factors behind their victory\defeat at the review meeting to be held after 15 days.
One report will be confidential and it will be on the functioning of PCC, DCC and block-level office bearers and whether they were involved in any sabotage. The other will be an open report on government officers who have played a partisan role.
In the meeting, the candidates raised their problems in front of former chief ministers Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh and former Union minister Suresh Pachouri. Arun Yadav did not attend the meeting.
One of the candidates who lost the election from Bundelkahnd’s Panna constituency, Bharat Milan Pandey at the meeting said, “Late distribution of ticket cost me dearly, I got only 10 days to campaign. Also, the PCC did not respond to my genuine requirements, and that is why I lost”
He also added that he was contesting against an influential minister who had both money and muscle power.
Candidate from Niwari constituency Amit Rai also raised the issue of late ticket distribution and said it cost him the election.
A candidate from Gwalior, Sunil Sharma, raised the issue of lack of coordination, but he was stopped by state vice-president and in-charge Rajiv Singh. Singh said, “You are creating indiscipline in the meeting.”
To this, Sharma replied, “This is the only platform on which I can raise this issue. If I miss this opportunity the problems will never come out in the open.”
At this point Kamal Nath intervened and said that all candidates would prepare two reports, one of which would be confidential.
