In 1992, at the AICC’s plenary session in Tirupati, then Congress president P V Narasimha Rao held elections to the CWC, expecting that his handpicked men would win. After his detractors — most importantly Arjun Singh, but also Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot — were elected, Rao got the entire CWC to resign saying no SC, ST, or woman had been elected. He then reconstituted the CWC, and inducted Singh and Pawar in the nominated category.
The Nishad Party lost the Handia and Kalpi seats to the SP by 3,543 votes and 2,816 votes respectively. The Apna Dal (S) nominee was defeated by the SP candidate from Bachhrawan by 2,812 votes.
The Nishad Party lost the Handia and Kalpi seats to the SP by 3,543 votes and 2,816 votes respectively. The Apna Dal (S) nominee was defeated by the SP candidate from Bachhrawan by 2,812 votes.
The margin of defeat for the BJP candidates was less than 5,000 votes in Basti Sadar, Bhadohi, Bisauli, Dibiyapur, Dumariaganj, Ghazipur, Etawah, Jasrana, Kithor, Meja, Patiali, Farenda, Raniganj, Sareni and Zaidpur. It was less than 1,000 votes in six of these seats.
The five biggest ..
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Elections to the CWC were held again in 1997 under Sitaram Kesri at the Calcutta plenary. The counting, party leaders recall, went on until the following day. Among the winners the fierce contest produced were Ahmed Patel, Jitendra Prasada, Madhav Rao Scindia, Tariq Anwar, Pranab Mukherjee, R K Dhawan, Arjun Singh, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sharad Pawar and Kotla Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy.
Earlier, at the 1969 Bombay plenary, after the debilitating split in the Congress, an election was averted at the last minute after Chandra Shekhar, the original Young Turk, was included among the 10 “unanimously elected” candidates.
Elections aside, how — and how often — has the CWC been reorganised?
The last reorganisation of the CWC was in March 2018, three months after Rahul took over as Congress president in December 2017. At the session, the AICC authorised him to reorganise the CWC.
The previous reorganisation was in March 2011, after Sonia’s September 2010 re-election as Congress president. She did not make any dramatic changes, but dropped Arjun Singh and Mohsina Kidwai from the main CWC and accommoda
