Name candidate of your choice: Cong to workers

With a view to involve the party workers in selection of candidates for the assembly elections, the Congress is making calls these days to the members registered with its Shakti project seeking from them the name of candidate of their choice.

Under the Shakti project, launched early this year, more than nine lakh workers of 45,000 polling booths have been registered with the party.

“Shakti is the communication bridge between AICC president Rahul Gandhi and booth level functionaries of the party,” said Avinash Pande, the AICC general secretary and the party in-charge for Rajasthan.

Under the project, a registered member received a call from the AICC office. When the member picks the call, he gets a message, ‘This is Avinash Pande. Mention candidate of your choice from the assembly constituency after the beep.’ The members are expected to name the candidate of their choice within five to seven seconds after the beep.

Pande said the telephonic survey is being done for the first time in Rajasthan to assess the popularity and strength of candidates in their respective areas. “The party keeps holding generic surveys for assessing performance and merit of candidate,” he added.

He said with such initiatives the workers also feel connected to the party. “I am also planning to use this system for the manifesto by asking issues related to areas such as farm loans, minimum support price, irrigation etc,” he said.

Pande said, “We have made over six lakh calls to workers registered with Shakti and the result will be checked with candidates’ panels.”

The members are informed about the calls in advance. A message is sent on the registered phone number of the members stating that such a call will be made to know about the candidate of his or her choice. The receivers are also informed about the date on which the call will be made.

State Congress spokesperson Archana Sharma said that the calls are being made to the party workers to know about their feedback and choice of candidate. “It is a welcoming process as it ensures transparency and involvement of workers in the process, which is what party president Rahul Gandhi has always insisted for,” she said.

Gandhi in his recent rallies has called for effective involvement of the party workers at all levels in organidation and government. In his speeches, he has stated that no “parachute candidate” will be fielded in the polls and only workers with proven record will be given tickets. “I believe the initiative is result of Gandhi’s direction ensuring importance to workers in selection process. The party chief in all his meetings laid emphasis on workers’ importance,” said a senior leader on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, the Congress said that facing cash crunch, a month ago the state unit had started crowd-funding to finance the assembly elections. With the help of social media and technology, the state Congress till date has received a sum of Rs 8.19 lakh from 348 donors, the party stated.

JAIPUR: