Mangalore : So it turns out that it wasn’t the best to a career in electoral politics. But I have no complaints. First of all, I wish to thank all the party leaders and workers of the constituency who have showered so much love and affection on me in the last several months. It was your trust and faith in my abilities that gave me the courage to make my nomination for the primaries said, Harsha Moily,  son of Union Minister Veerappa Moily. 

Speaking at Press Club on March 4, Tuesday he said, I put in my nomination for the primaries because I was determined to build the next line of leadership for the congress party at Dakshina Kannada and strengthen the party and focus on making the district the benchmark for communal harmony and development In India.

Over the last many months, I travelled the length and breadth of this constituency, and reached out to leaders and workers through large forums, individual meetings and phone calls. I may not have been able to meet or call all of you, but I tried my best to reach all of you. This rigorous schedule of meetings and travels was only possible because of the hard work put in my campaign team members. They made an extraordinary effort for the sake of the constituency and the party and I will forever be grateful to them.

During my travels and meetings across the constituency, it was also refreshing to see the faith and dedication the workers have towards the congress party. They have further strengthened my belief that the congress party’s future is in bright hands.

To all of you workers, leaders and supporters, thanks for all the hours of work, for the calls, for the speeches and for inviting me to several cultural and social events and for your prayers. You have inspired me.

I also wish to thank the members of the media who covered my campaign and provided me a platform to communicate my views to the voters and party workers he said.

Non- acceptance of my Nomination Form:

Further he said,  non-acceptance of my application, is not the end of my political journey, but has further inspired me to work harder for the party workers and the citizens of this constituency. I will continue to work in the Dakshina Kannada constituency, and will most definitely volunteer to campaign for the congress nominee for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

I now wish to provide some clarifications regarding the non-acceptance of my nomination. I was informed on 2nd March, Sunday that my application has not been accepted. The reason for non-acceptance is stated as non-satisfaction of the eligibility criteria.

Needless to say, I am very disappointed by this decision because I firmly believe that I do quality as a candidate under the third criteria mentioned in the Candidate Handbook namely ‘ A person of standing in public service/ social cause and who is not a member of any other political party’.

As stated in my application, I have been involved in the service of public through my role as a trustee and secretary of Kisan Sabha Trust. The Kisan Sabha Trust has been set-up for a social cause, and is actively engaged in the management of a charitable school for children from low income families.

Further, I am of the view that in my role as the Managing Director and CEO of Moksha- Yug Access India Private Limited (MYA) I have contributed to the economic upliftment and empowerment of dairy farmers in rural India.

The above mentioned roles and responsibilities clearly made me an eligible candidate for the primaries for the Dakshina Kannada Lok Shaba constituency under the criteria of ‘a person of standing in public service/ social cause.

I believe the decision to accept or reject the claim made by under the above criteria, was left to the AICC General Secretary in charge of the primaries and unfortunately, AICC General Secretary in charge of the primaries took the view that I am not eligible to contest under that criteria. Its now obvious that his understanding and view on this criteria was different to mine. While I do not agree with his stance, I have come to accept it and move on in the interests of the Congress party.

The system of primaries is very healthy for a democracy. It was a pleasure and an honor to be part of this experience of primaries pioneered by the Congress party. It was also a huge learning experience for me, and gave me insights into to how we can improve on this pioneering effort. Lets not forget that any pioneering exercise will always have its initial hiccups. It is important to note that the primaries are a pilot run, and that certain processes, systems, guidelines and its execution will evolve over time and take time to achieve perfection.

I’d like to take the liberty to list out a few issues where changes need to be made to make the primaries a more inclusive, fair and transparent system. For instance, it is important that we include the block office Bearers, and Booth Presidents and Booth workers as eligible voters for the primaries. I also strongly believe that the guideline stating that the decision of the AICC General Secretary/ Secretary in-Charge of the INC Primary shall be final on the claim made by the candidate to be a person of standing in Public Service/ Social cause’ defeats the entire purpose and objective of the primaries which was set up to make the ticket allotment process fair and transparent.

Providing arbitrary and discretionary power in the hands of one individual (in this case, the AICC General Secretary in charge of the primaries), makes this a non-transparent and unfair clause. I am sure this is an issue that will have to be addressed and the necessary corrections will be made for future primaries.

I care a lot about the state of affairs of Dakshina Kannada constituency, especially about maintaining communal harmony, and about creating jobs and wealth for the poor. I care about the values of the Indian National Congress. I believe in walking together with party workers, leaders and the general public to build a brighter and more transparent future where we are all in it together and we are all prospering together.  Harsha explained.