November 22, 2015
Array

Thinking Together

According to the organisational rules of CPI(M), election is to be held for committees at every level. As per clause 15, the outgoing committee will propose a panel. Any member present can object about any name so proposed and can even propose name or names of candidates with their consent. The proposed panel with additional names will then go for voting by secret ballot. If there is no additional name, then the panel will be accepted by raising hands. My questions in this background are: a) Why often the proposed panel is placed at the fag end of the meeting leaving very little time for discussion? b) Often the presidium conducting the meeting or the outgoing committee members ask the additional candidates to withdraw their name for the sake of `consensus’. Is there any concept of such consensus reflected in organisational rule of CPI(M)? c) In case there is voting, the candidates contesting are not allowed to campaign in favour of their activity. In an election of a committee from a large number of members/delegates (like local committee, district committee, state committee and others), it is not possible for a member to know the activities of all other members, then giving scope to contesting candidates to deliberate on his activity (say for 5 minutes) before the attending delegates mighty be healthy, is it not? S Chakraborty, Salt Lake, Kolkata a) The reason why the panel of names for the new committee is placed as the last item of the agenda in a conference is because the election should be held after the work report or the political-organisational report is discussed and adopted. That sets the direction for the future work and it is on that basis that the new committee should be elected which will undertake the responsibilities for implementing the tasks set out by the report. b) When a panel is proposed by the outgoing committee and if there are any alternative candidates proposed, it is the right of the outgoing committee leadership to argue on why the panel proposed should be accepted. If even after this, any delegate wants to contest, that is a right, which cannot be denied. It is always better if a common understanding which you call a `consensus” can be arrived at. But if this is not possible, as per the norms of inner-Party democracy, elections will be held. c) The Party Constitution does not permit any canvassing or lobbying for candidates who will contest in an election. The conference has to come to an understanding of who are the members best suited to be in a committee. Just giving scope for speeches by the candidates will not really help delegates make any proper evaluation. Party conferences cannot be made a platform for campaign speeches.