Assembly polls: Madhya Pradesh Congress adopts 'Rahul Gandhi' model

Bhopal, Sept 30: In an attempt to ensure their party's victory in the poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, the state's Congress party unit has reportedly asked the aspiring candidates to give details like how many demonstrations and protests they had organised in the last five years, whether they had a criminal background, their financial status and how many of the candidates backed by them had won the local elections.

According to TNIE report, the questionnaire is part of the vetting process introduced by Congress deputy chief Rahul Gandhi, who had earlier applied the same formula in Karnataka to help the party return to power there after a sizable gap.

Rahul Gandhi had introduced a new method for the party hopefuls to get tickets.

A senior Congress leader said, "This time, rather than just giving the tickets to the candidates on the basis of the recommendations of senior leaders, a more systematic process has been put in place. "A series of questions have been included in the survey, including the margin of victory or defeat in the last polls contested by them."

"They have also been asked about the performance of the party in the local elections in their constituency. The candidates are required to fill the questionnaires which is then scrutinised by senior leaders. On the basis of their responses, the names are being shortlisted by the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), which is then being forwarded to the Screening Committee at the Centre", he added.

In earlier this month, the Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had introduced a new method for the party hopefuls to get the ticket to contest the upcoming assembly elections.

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