New Delhi : Gujarat Congress MP Madhusudan Mistry ceased to be an AICC general secretary as Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday inducted him as a member of the party’s Central Election Authority (CEA) tasked with completing the internal elections by October end.
Kerala MP Mullapally Ramachandran heads the 3-member CEA while Assam MP Bhubaneshwar Kalita is its other member besides Mistry.
Party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said since Mistry has become a Central Election Authority member, he will not hold any organisational post as per party constitution. Party sources said the constitution bars the office-bearers from being aprt of the CEA.
Sonia also constituted a 3-member advisory committee of the CEA comprising Punjab MP Shamsher Singh Dullo, Assam MP Biren Singh Engti and Rajasthan ex-MP Ashk Ali Tak.
Only a fortnight ago, Ramachandran got cleared the roadmap for completing the party’s organisational elections by October end from Sonia Gandhi in a meeting which was also attended by Rahul Gandhi, Ahmed Patel, A K Antony and Janardan Dwivedi.
The party is under notice from the Election Commission that it would not get any further extension to complete the elections since it had already overstepped a 5-year term as stipulated in the Congress constitution in 2015. This is the fourth term of Sonia Gandhi as the party president.
