The Madhya Pradesh Youth Congress election, meant to energize the party's young workers, has exploded into controversy, with the BJP accusing the Congress of vote theft and even Congress leaders questioning the integrity of the process.
The results of the vote count, announced on November 6, declared Yash Ghanghoria, son of former minister and Jabalpur MLA Lakhan Ghanghoria, as the frontrunner for the post of Youth Congress State President with 313,730 votes. Abhishek Parmar from Bhopal came second with 238,780 votes, followed by Devendra Singh Dadu in third place.
But the celebrations didn't last long. Allegations of massive irregularities, vote manipulation, and age violations have thrown the results into doubt.
Speaking to NDTV on the condition of anonymity, a candidate made serious allegations.
"No one is ready to listen to us. If overage voting has occurred, why is it being considered? The rules and regulations in the candidate handbook you provided stated that voters born before 1990 cannot vote, but we have provided three or four proofs. Where is the transparency in this? Our 8.30 lakh votes were rejected, and now we are demanding the voter list. More than Rs 8 crore has been involved," he said.
The candidate claimed that such allegations were raised from the block level onwards.
"Over 4,000 candidates contested, and the majority of the allegations are that their votes automatically disappeared or were rejected. I asked the organization about similar allegations being made in almost every district. We also had a meeting with our technical team, but everyone gave evasive answers. The name of the president has not been officially announced, but hoardings and posters have been put up by a person who has never been in Congress. Everything was set," he alleged.
Madhya Pradesh minister and senior BJP leader Vishwas Sarang accused the Congress of stealing its own votes, calling the election a "scam worth Rs 8 crore." "Rahul Gandhi organized the Youth Congress elections. Around 1.5 million youth registered, paying Rs 50 each; that's Rs 7.5 crore collected. Another Rs 1 crore came from nomination fees. Congress stole this money and the votes," Sarang said.
He alleged that 8.5 lakh votes were rejected or marked "held" during the counting process and accused the Congress of allowing over-age members to vote. "Santosh Singh from Vidisha is 44 years old, and Anjum Khan is 36. Both voted in what's supposed to be a youth election. Will Rahul Gandhi answer for this hypocrisy?" he added.
Sarang also took aim at Rahul Gandhi's ongoing national campaign against "vote theft" and called it ironic. "The man who cries that 'democracy is in danger' has conducted the most undemocratic election inside his own party," Sarang remarked.
Discontent Within Congress
Even within the Congress, discontent is brewing. Several Youth Congress leaders have traveled to Delhi to meet National In-Charge Manish Sharma, alleging large-scale tampering and manipulation in the Madhya Pradesh election process. Abhishek Parmar and Devendra Singh Dadu, both top contenders, have reportedly filed complaints about irregularities in membership verification and vote counting.
In Rajgarh district, Shiv Dangi, a Youth Congress candidate, told NDTV that he and his team personally financed membership fees for 17,490 youths, spending nearly Rs 9 lakh on registrations and up to Rs 20 lakh in total campaign expenses. Yet, he claimed thousands of his votes were marked "held" or invalidated without explanation.
"I made corrections to the held votes; 3,300 were made valid, but still only received 4,500 votes. Where did the rest go?" he asked, stating that he had emailed complaints to Youth Congress In-Charge Manish Sharma, District Returning Officer, and state leaders, but received no response.
According to the Youth Congress records, membership registration began on April 18, conducted online through an app with a Rs 50 membership fee. Between June 20 and July 19, about 1,537,527 youths enrolled. But 63,153 failed to pay the fee, and only 1,474,374 valid memberships were recorded.
Interviews for the top three candidates were conducted in Delhi on November 9, but after receiving multiple complaints, the announcement of the state president's appointment was put on hold by the central leadership. Despite that, hoardings and posters proclaiming Yash Ghanghoria as president have already appeared in several districts; rival candidates have said that this "proves the fix."
Observers say the elections exposed deep factionalism within the Madhya Pradesh Congress. The Kamal Nath and Umang Singhar camps are believed to have backed Ghanghoria, while several district-level leaders aligned with other factions are demanding a probe.
