4 hrs ago
Congress Plans Haryana Grassroots Overhaul After 12 Years
The Congress party is trying to rebuild its team in Haryana.
For nearly 12 years, it did not have a complete organisation working at the local booth level.
The party lost several Lok Sabha and Assembly elections during that period.
It now plans to create teams at booths, mandals, blocks and districts.
One mandal is expected to cover about 20 voting booths.
Congress workers will receive training on party ideas, local problems and voter contact.
The party is also using the revision of voter lists to check that eligible voters are included.
Congress leaders believe better local organisation could help them win more seats.
However, disagreements among senior leaders could make the rebuilding effort difficult.
The Congress is rebuilding its Haryana organisation from booth level ahead of the 2029 elections.
The proposed structure includes booths, mandals, blocks and districts, with one mandal for every 20 booths.
The party announced 103 block presidents across 19 districts on June 17 under its Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan.
Block conventions are planned for September, district conventions for October and worker training programmes for November.
Congress leaders say stronger booth networks could improve constituency-level gains, but factionalism remains a major challenge.
- Who
- The Indian National Congress, led in the Haryana exercise by AICC in-charge Sanjay Dutt and Haryana Congress chief Rao Narender Singh.
- What
- A plan to rebuild the party's booth-level and wider grassroots organisation in Haryana.
- Where
- Across Haryana, including its 19 districts.
- When
- The latest phase began in June, with block conventions planned for September, district conventions in October and training programmes in November; the broader goal is ahead of the 2029 elections.
- Why
- To address the absence of a full grassroots organisation, improve voter contact and convert the Congress's statewide vote share into more Assembly seats.
Case for Grassroots Rebuilding
Organisational and Political Challenges
Value of a booth network
Case for Grassroots Rebuilding
Congress leaders argue that a functioning booth structure can improve contact with voters and help turn a close statewide vote share into more constituency-level victories.
Organisational and Political Challenges
The party's past results show that a narrow statewide vote-share gap did not prevent the BJP from winning substantially more Assembly seats, so a new structure will still need to produce effective local campaigning.
Internal unity
Case for Grassroots Rebuilding
Recent events have brought senior leaders from different groups together, and party leaders say they intend to work collectively.
Organisational and Political Challenges
Factionalism among senior Congress leaders remains a recurring problem that could complicate the organisational rebuild.
Use of electoral-roll revision
Case for Grassroots Rebuilding
Congress says its Booth Level Agents can monitor voter rolls, protect eligible voters from being omitted and identify discrepancies while expanding the booth network.
Organisational and Political Challenges
The exercise adds responsibilities for party workers, who must combine electoral-roll monitoring with training, local issue identification and regular voter outreach.
Key facts
- Organisational gap
- The Congress has lacked a full-fledged booth-level organisation in Haryana for nearly 12 years.
- Block appointments
- The party announced 103 block presidents across 19 districts on June 17.
- Planned structure
- The model includes booths, mandals, blocks and districts, with one mandal proposed for every 20 booths.
- Training schedule
- Block conventions are planned for September, district conventions for October and worker training for November.
- 2024 Assembly vote share
- The BJP received 39.94% of the vote and Congress received 39.09%, a difference of 0.85 percentage points.
- 2024 Assembly seats
- The BJP won 48 of Haryana's 90 Assembly seats, while Congress won 37.
- Booth agents
- The Congress said 19,280 of its appointed Booth Level Agents were involved in the electoral-roll revision exercise.
Quotes
Sanjay Dutt
Congress leader and AICC in-charge of Haryana
“Training is intended to create a more structured cadre where master trainers would train workers at lower organisational levels. We want to make the workers trainers so that they can replicate the training throughout the organisation”
indianexpress.com
“We will form a mandal for every 20 booths to strengthen the party at the grassroots”
indianexpress.com
Rao Narender Singh
Haryana Congress chief
“We will take along all leaders as part of collective efforts”
indianexpress.com
Sources
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