50% of new Congress district chiefs in Gujarat, MP, Haryana below 50 years

NEW DELHI: As Congress revamps its organisation at the district level under the ‘Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan’, the profile of newly appointed District Congress Committee (DCC) presidents of three states — Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana — shows that 50% of the new presidents are below 50 years, making a marked shift towards giving younger party members a role to lead at the grassroots.

According to an analysis by a senior Congress leader, earlier those above 50 years occupied 80% of these posts in these states, but now in keeping with the vision of Rahul Gandhi, care is being taken to ensure that the appointment process is more transparent and merit based, and also takes into account diversity by creating room for the youth, more women members and those from marginalised communities. Also, an evaluation and monitoring process has been put in place for quarterly assessment of DCC presidents which will play a key role in their continuity.

“For instance, the number of women district presidents in these three states was zero but the newly appointed DCC presidents include six women chiefs with four of them in Madhya Pradesh and one each in Gujarat and Haryana,” the leader said, driving home the point that even though this number is small but it is a step forward to get more women to lead the party at the grassroots.

It is also learnt that the percentage of DCC presidents from the SC and ST communities too has increased from 4% to around 12% and 6% to 12%, respectively, the leader said. The number of OBC presidents in these states have increased from 24% to around 33%.

Addressing a meeting of observers appointed for these states last week, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “We will have to increase the representation of women and bring them into the mainstream by giving them responsibilities.” Both Kharge and Rahul have stressed that districts hold the key to winning elections. Congress as part of the campaign has dedicated 2025 to organisation building and plans to complete appointment of all district presidents across states.

With the appointments complete in these three states, Congress has now set off the process for appointing district presidents in Jharkhand, Odisha, Punjab and Uttarakhand.