Five former Chief Election Commissioners are believed to have cautioned the Congress about Arvind Kejriwal’s demonstration of how to rig an EVM. They are T N Seshan, J M Lyngdoh, S Y Quraishi, Navin Chawla and M S Gill.

Congress sources say the party consulted with all five about Kejriwal’s invitation to watch live AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj hack an EVM prototype in the Delhi Assembly last week. According to the sources, all five felt Kejriwal’s claims should be taken with a pinch of salt since the EVM being hacked was a copy and not the one used by the EC.

They were also worried that the charges of rigging would undermine the integrity and authority of the EC and erode people’s faith in the electoral system. There should be substantial evidence before such charges are made, they cautioned.

With so many heavyweights backing the EC instead of Kejriwal, the Congress has decided to adopt a "wait and watch’’ position. While the CPI(M), Trinamool Congress and RJD sent representatives to the Delhi Assembly to watch the rigging demonstration, the Congress stayed away. AAP sources claim that Digvijay Singh had confirmed his presence but did not show up.

Incidentally, even the BSP, whose leader Mayawati was the first to level rigging charges after the UP assembly election results, and the JD(U), whose Nitish Kumar is supposed to be a great pal of Kejriwal, stayed away as well although they had assured AAP that they would send their representatives.

No consensus

It seems every opposition leader Sonia Gandhi is consulting in her hunt for a joint candidate for the post of the next president of India has suggested a different name. For instance, the Left is believed to be rooting for Hamid Ansari while Trinamool’s Mamata Banerjee is said to have countered the CPI(M) with the name of Gopal Gandhi who had several run-ins with the Left government in West Bengal when he was governor.

Sharad Pawar, say Congress sources, has suggested the name of Manmohan Singh. Pawar’s close relations with Manmohan Singh are well known. Through ten years of UPA, Pawar backed the former prime minister on most issues and Singh is said to have often consulted the wily Maratha strongman for political advice.

Pawar’s suggestion of Manmohan Singh for president is an interesting one because in 2012, when the UPA was in government, his name had also cropped up as a candidate. According to a source familiar with events at that time, Sonia Gandhi was keen that Rahul take over as prime minister. She had sent feelers to Manmohan Singh offering him the post of president, which was falling vacant in July of that year.

It seems Manmohan Singh had readily agreed to be kicked upstairs so that Rahul could take his place as PM. It was Pranab Mukherjee who nixed that plan. According to the same source, Mukherjee was upset that he would get nothing out of the deal. He would simply continue to serve as the number 2 man in the government, only this time under a much younger person like Rahul.

Well, the rest is history. Mukherjee became the President, Manmohan Singh continued as PM till the end of his five year term and Rahul Gandhi is still waiting in the wings to take over as Congress president.

Meanwhile, Nitish Kumar has sown more confusion by suggesting a second term for Pranab Mukherjee. Is it any wonder that the opposition camp is unable to arrive at a consensus for a joint candidate?

Congress moves

In one of the first good decisions they have taken since the Congress party’s humiliating defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are believed to have cleared Jyotiraditya Scindia’s name as the leader of the party in the Lok Sabha and de facto Leader of Opposition. At the same time, senior leader Kamal Nath, who was also in the running for the post, is all set to lead the Congress charge in next year’s assembly election in Madhya Pradesh as its chief minister nominee.

Mallikarjuna Kharge, who is currently the leader in the Lok Sabha, will head back to his home state of Karnataka which also goes to polls next year. He is being compensated for the loss of his current post by being nominated to head Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee. This is arguably the most important committee of Parliament.

The new assignments for Scindia and Kamal Nath are unusually wise decisions by a leadership which seems to have lost its bearings after the 2014 defeat. Scindia is an excellent orator and debator. He has masterful command over both English and Hindi. These qualities make him a formidable parliamentarian. We can expect more fire and energy from the Congress benches when he takes over.

On the other hand, if anyone has the political skills to defeat the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, it is Kamal Nath. Although he is now over 70 years old, he remains formidable on the ground and knows the state like the back of his hand. Remember, Kamal Nath is the only Congress leader who won his Lok Sabha seat from Chindwara in Madhya Pradesh in the 1977 elections when the Congress was wiped out in north India and even Indira Gandhi lost from Rae Bareli.

Of course, efforts are already on to stop Scindia’s elevation. Several members of the old guard are lobbying against him, fearing that the appointment could position him as Rahul Gandhi’s Manmohan Singh in future elections. And in Madhya Pradesh, the faction-ridden Congress party is hard at work to stop Kamal Nath from heading the election campaign.