report of credentials committee

Communist Party of India (Marxist)

19^th Congress

Anil Biswas Nagar

Coimbatore

March 29 to April 3, 2008

Report of the Credentials Committee

The Central Committee had decided the number of delegates and observers to attend the 19^th Congress as 794, to be divided into 724 delegates and 70 observers. One member from abroad was not elected and hence was unable to attend. Five C.C Members -- Comrades Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Jyoti Basu, E Balanandan, Baidyanath Majumdar and P. Sanzgiri were unable to attend due to ill health. One observer from the cultural front was unable to attend. Therefore, a total of 718 delegates and 69 observers are attending the Congress. The break-up of delegates and observers is being given separately.

From amongst the total 787 delegates/observers attending, 87 are women. Compared to the 18^th Congress the representation of women has gone up by 2 per cent.

Among the delegates/observers attending the Congress Com. Samar Mukherjee is the oldest delegate. He is 95 years old. The youngest delegates are Com. Shebeer K.I and M Swaraj from Kerala who are aged 28. The youngest observer is Com. Ritrabrata Banerjee from the student centre and is aged 27.

Com. R Umanath, PBM and Benode Das, delegate from West Bengal both have the longest party life, having joined the Party in 1939. The shortest party life amongst delegates/observers is of Com. Sehba Farooqi from Delhi. She joined the Party in 2005.

Com. R Umanath and N. Shankariah have attended all except one Congress. Com. P K Chandranandan and Samar Mukherjee attended 17 Congresses.

Com. Benode Das from West Bengal underwent the longest jail life – 11 years, one month and five days.

Com. P K Chandranan, delegate from Kerala had the longest underground life of 11 years and six months. Gurbaksh Singh, observer from Jharkhand also spent 11 years underground.

Comparison with 18^th Congress

Let us now examine some aspects of the report as compared to that of the 18^th Congress:

As already mentioned, the number of women delegates has increased from 9.3 per cent to 11 per cent. Still it is one per cent less as compared to the ratio of women members in the total Party membership. The composition of class origin remains almost the same. Delegates/observers who entered the Party through the student front has slightly increased from 44.6 per cent last time to 46 per cent at this Congress. There has been a decline of one percent from TU front and 1.5 per cent from the Kisan front. Amongst class organisations the least number of entrants is through the agricultural workers front. The notable feature is that more women delegates/observers attending this Congress have been recruited from other fronts (apart from the women’s front) in comparison to the last Congress. For 39.5 per cent of delegates/observers Party Organisation is the main responsibility. This has declined by 2.5 per cent as compared to the last Congress. 86 per cent of the delegates/observers are wholetimers. This number is also down by one per cent as compared to the 18^th Congress.

The income of 60 per cent of the delegates/observers is below Rs. 5000/- per month. The figure has increased by 6 per cent as compared to the 18^th Congress.

The number of people’s representatives amongst delegates/observers is 24 per cent. This number has gone up by 3 per cent as compared to the 18^th Congress.

First time attendees are the same (22 per cent) as last time.

Around 59 per cent of the delegates/observers have been to jail. This number has come down by 4 per cent as compared to the last Congress. 31 per cent of the delegates/observers have spent time underground. This figure has gone down by 3 per cent as compared to the last Congress.

We are very thankful to CC office comrades and volunteers who helped compile the data.

V. Srinivasa Rao, (Convener)

Mridul De, A.K. Balan, Sudha Sundaraman (Members)

Credentials Committee

Quota of Delegates & Observers: State-wise

Sl. No.	Name of State	Delegates	Observers
1	Andhra Pradesh	40	04
2	Assam	16	02
3	Andaman & Nicobar	01	01
4	Bihar	18	02
5	Chattisgarh	04	02
6	Delhi	04	02
7	Goa	01
8	Gujarat	06	02
9	Haryana	04	02
10	Himachal Pradesh	04	02
11	Jammu & Kashmir	04	01
12	Jharkhand	07	02
13	Karnataka	09	02
14	Kerala	170	03
15	Madhya Pradesh	05	02
16	Maharashtra	16	02
17	Manipur	02	01
18	Orissa	07	02
19	Punjab	15	02
20	Rajasthan	07	02
21	Tamilnadu	49	03
22	Tripura	35	03
23	Uttarakhand	03	02
24	Uttar Pradesh	10	02
25	West Bengal	175	05
26	Sikkim	01
27	U.K.	02
28	Canada	01
29	CC units	25	17
30	CC members	83
	Total	724	70

Of these all elected delegates from states and centre attended. Five CC Members and one observer from the Centre could not attend the Congress.

Attendance	Delegate	Observer
Quota of Delegates	724	70
Delegates Elected	723
Observers elected/nominated		70
Delegates/Observers attending	718	69

Gender	Delegate	Observer
Female	76	11
Male	642	58
Total	718	69

Age_Group	Delegate	Observer
Less than 30 years	2	1
30-40 years	30	9
40-50 years	124	18
50-60 years	285	26
60-70 years	186	9
Above 70 years	90	6
Not mentioned	1
Total	718	69
Oldest Delegate -- Samar Mukherjee -- CCM -- 95 years Youngest Observer -- Ritabrata Banerjee -- CC Units -- age 27 years Youngest delegates – Sheber K.I and M Swaraj from Kerala -- 28 years
Marital Status	Delegate	Observer
Married	669	63
Unmarried	49	6
Total	718	69

Class origin	Delegate	Observer
Working class	106	8
Agricultural labour	29	3
Poor peasant	90	16
Middle peasant	149	15
Rich peasant	33
Landlord	15	2
Bourgeois	4	2
Middle class	274	23
Petty bourbeois	13
Not mentioned	5
Total	718	69

Education	Delegate	Observer
No formal schooling	3