'No criminal record in the party will be accepted'

New Delhi: Determined to recruit more and more youngsters into the youth wing of the Congress, Rahul Gandhi has a clear message for aspirants. Your image should be clean and no member with criminal background is allowed to contest organisational elections.

"We have adopted zero tolerance in cases where a candidate has a criminal record," said President of the Youth Congress, Ashok Tanwar.

In the first case, the party has barred a Youth Congress member from contesting elections in Puducherry after he was found to be under a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) scanner, said Tanwar.

Rahul Gandhi is keen to conduct organisational elections and democratise the Indian Youth Congress, seen by many as the future of the Congress in a country where youth constitutes 54 per cent of the total population.

The polls will be held in all states and at panchayat, block, district and state levels too.

To help conduct the polls and ensure the elections are free and fair, Gandhi has roped in the Foundation for Advanced Management of Elections (FAME), an NGO headed by former chief election commissioner J M Lyngdoh.

"We have entered into an agreement with Rahul that no candidate with doubtful background will be allowed to contest elections," said General Secretary of FAME, K J Rao.

Rao said it was with this understanding that a young Congress member, Ashok Anand, against whom a charge sheet was filed by the CBI, was disqualified from contesting elections in Puducherry.

Organisational elections have been completed in Punjab, Gujarat and union territory of Daman and Diu. Polls in Puducherry will be held on July 27 followed by Tamil Nadu.

Rahul is conducting talent hunt countrywide to open the doors of politics to youngsters without political lineage. Ever since he has taken to politics, he has realised that the main reason young people shun the political arena is they feel they cannot get space in political parties unless they have godfathers - or political relatives.

"The talent hunt is a gateway for those who want to get into politics but find it difficult," said National General Secretary of the Youth Congress, Virender Singh Rathore.