Explained: What is CWC, the highest decision-making body of Congress
The Congress Working Committee is the highest executive committee of the Congress and has a final say in the decisions taken by the Grand Old Party
The Congress on Sunday convened its emergency Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting to review its performance after its poor performance in the just concluded Assembly elections of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur.The Congress was unseated by the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab, winning just 18 against the Arvind Kejriwal-led party's phenomenal tally of 92 seats. The Grand Old Party managed just two seats, just one more than Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party's tally.Now let us tell you what exactly is the CWC, who constitute the executive panel and other things that you need to know.What is the CWC?It is the highest executive committee of the Congress and has a final say in the decisions taken by the Grand Old Party. According to the Congress constitution, the CWC is comprised of the working president, the leader of the party and 23 other members. Out of these 23, 12 are elected by the All India Congress Committee and the remaining are nominated by the party president.
Membership of the CWCThe CWC mostly comprises top leaders who are closely associated with the decision making process in the party. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ambika Soni are some of the prominent members.The rebel group, also called G-23, who has been demanding fresh organisational reforms in the party, also has members including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Manish Tewari and others.When were the last elections held?Political pundits recall only two instances when the elections were held to pick the members of CWC. In 1992, then prime minister and Congress president PV Narasimha Rao had held elections to the panel, hoping that his favourites would be elected. When his critics including Arjun Singh and Sharad Pawar were elected, Rao got the entire CWC to resign citing that there were no members from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women members.The second instance of elections being held was in 1997 under the presidentship of Sitaram Kesri at the Kolkata (then Calcutta) session. Ahmed Patel, Madhav Rao Scindia, Pranab Mukherjee were the members who made it to the Congress Working Committee.
