New Delhi: Taking a dig at Congress after Election Comission asked it to complete its organisational elections by June, Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Monday said all was not well in the main opposition party where internal democracy was not effective.
"It's duty of every political party, that too for a political party which claims 125 years of history...Parties should conduct internal elections in a free and fair manner and report to the Election Commission. They should have taken the lead in doing this.
"Very fact that the Election Commission has to remind the Congress party shows that all is not well and democracy is not effective in internal functioning of the Congress party," Naidu told reporters.
Since September, 2015, Congress has on two occasions urged the poll panel to allow it to defer its internal elections.
EC had recently said it would grant no further extension and the internal polls should be over "latest by June 30, 2017".
Congress has also been asked to submit the list of its new office bearers by July 15 to the poll panel.
With the Commission refusing to grant more time to Congress to hold the organisational polls, the demand for anointing Rahul Gandhi as party president could gain momentum after the assembly elections in five states are over in March.
Under the EC's rules, all registered political parties have to hold organisational elections annually. Congress has, however, cited its constitution to say that its internal polls are held every 5 years.
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