Gross violation of Congress Constitution by Delhi PCC, allege leaders

New Delhi: A letter issued by the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) on Friday expelling an office bearer has clearly violated the basic tenets of the party Constitution, according to Congress leaders.

In his letter to Tariq Anwar, chairman of the disciplinary panel of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), DPCC disciplinary committee head Dr Narender Nath informed him that Krishna Nagar district president Gurcharan Singh Raju has been expelled from the party for six years for indulging in anti-party activities.

Nath invoked article 19(C)4 of the Congress Constitution to take such an action against Raju.

However, the grounds of expulsion are clearly contrary to the provisions of the Congress Constitution.

According to the Congress Constitution, breach of discipline includes (a) deliberately acting or carrying on propaganda against the programmes and decisions of the Congress; (b) deliberately disregarding rules or disobeying orders passed by any competent authority; (c) indulging in fraudulent action relating to Congress funds, enrolment of members or election to Committees; (d) being guilty of offences involving moral turpitude, black marketing, adulteration, bribery, corruption, forgery, embezzlement of Congress funds or dealing in liquor; (e) deliberately acting in a way calculated to lower the prestige of the Congress or carrying on propaganda against Congress Committees or office-bearers thereof.

However, it also states that, (a) the Working Committee can take action against any Congress Committee and any individual Congressman, but not against the All India Congress Committee. (b) The executive of a PCC can take action only against Committees subordinate to it and individuals other than members of the AICC and members of Parliament in whose case it can only make recommendations to the Working Committee for disciplinary action. (c) The Executive of a DCC can take action only against Committees subordinate to it and members of the DCC and of its subordinate Committees provided that the DCC can not take such action against a person who is a delegate or a member of a Legislature. In such cases it can only make recommendations to the competent authority for taking disciplinary action.

The Congress Constitution further states that the President of the PCC can place under suspension any Committee subordinate to the PCC, any member of the PCC or Committee subordinate to the PCC, but not a member of Parliament or AICC, if there is a prima facie breach of discipline. All such cases of suspension and subsequent decision thereon shall be reported to the AICC Office within a week from the date of such suspension or decision. But he should place the matter before the next meeting of the Executive of the PCC and proceedings should be initiated so as to dispose of disciplinary action case within one month of the suspension order.

It is thus clear that Raju's expulsion is in gross violation of the Congress Constitution.

Since, Raju was named as the district unit head by the Congress President, so the PCC should have forwarded his case to the central disciplinary committee for further action. The AICC disciplinary committee would have then taken a call on his expulsion and reported it to the Congress President.

Raju still has the option of appeal.

According to the Congress Constitution, it shall be open to any Congress Committee or person, against whom disciplinary action is taken, to appeal to the Working Committee in the case of decisions of the PCC Executive and to the PCC Executive in the case of decisions of the DCC Executives, within three weeks of the receipt of the order provided that pending the appeal, the order appealed against is obeyed. The President of the AICC or of the PCC, as the case may be, may, however, stay the execution of the order appealed against whenever deemed fit.

But Raju alleged that his expulsion is a case of personal vendetta carried out by Delhi unit chief Devendra Yadav.

He alleged there was large-scale rigging, favoritism and discrimination in the recently held Youth Congress elections. Raju said his son Harpreet Singh, who has been an active Youth Congress worker for years, was deliberately targeted. The votes cast in his favor were cut through the AI ​​system, and Yadav's candidate was made to win the elections.

He further claimed that when Pandav Nagar block president Praveen Sharma was removed without talking to him, he met Yadav on June 25. "I asked Devendra Yadav the reason for removing Praveen Sharma, he got angry and behaved rudely with me and drove me out of the party office," he alleged.

Raju said in the DPCC meeting on June 25, not only was he insulted by Yadav, but also arbitrary appointments of block presidents were made in his district without any consultation or information.

Raju claimed that when he lodged a protest against this, Yadav misbehaved with him, used threatening words and spoke in an indecent language. He alleged that the most worrying comment was heard when one of Yadav's associates said that Congress general secretary in-charge of organisation KC Venugopal is "in our pocket and that no one can harm us.”

This statement not only "hurt me, but also raised questions on the dignity of the party leadership and the decorum of the organisation," Raju said.