A few metres from the Uttar Pradesh Congress headquarters in Lucknow, the Youth Congress office is buzzing with activity. Quietly turned into a nerve centre called the “Connect Centre”, it is now the state’s command post for rebuilding the Congress cadre and setting the ground for the upcoming Assembly and panchayat elections.
At the heart of this push is a 26-point checklist covering everything from identifying key community leaders and selecting three influential people from each Assembly seat to drawing up candidate lists for the districts and kshetra panchayats.
Inside the Connect Centre, 22 nodal officers work the phones, computers and WhatsApp groups with support from computer operators. They are in constant touch with 266 senior coordinators, former ministers, ex-MLAs and senior leaders deployed two per district or city unit, who are tasked with not just helping appoint “23 lakh office-bearers” from district to booth level but also verifying that every unit reflects the Congress’s social outreach goals: at least 60 per cent SC/ST, OBC, and Muslim representation and 20 per cent women.
Any unit failing to meet targets is red flagged, instantly visible to both the state headquarters and the AICC.
Party leaders say this is a lesson learnt the hard way. Despite high-profile campaigns like the Khat Sabha before the 2017 Assembly polls or the “Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon” pitch before 2022, the party failed to make a dent due to lack of a robust grassroots cadre. This time, the Congress is building an extensive database with caste, sub-caste, profession, and specific responsibilities assigned down to the booth level.
Among the 26 tasks are forming a district-level control room, drawing up lists of key caste leaders, ensuring every Congress worker’s house flies the party flag, and setting up a social media network with WhatsApp groups down to the block level.
The task list also mandates identifying three strong individuals per Vidhan Sabha to serve as future convenors—and possible Assembly candidates. With the party planning to contest the panchayat elections solo and restrict alliances to Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, every unit must also submit names of probable panchayat candidates.
District and city units are working to form local committees, take veteran leaders into confidence, and build the party’s 38 affiliated wings — including four frontals, six departments, and 28 cells for groups from youth, women, SC/ST to traders, doctors and fishermen.
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A senior leader speaking to The Indian Express said the party intends to pick 80 per cent of its new state committee from among the 266 on-field coordinators, who act as the link between the state control room and district units. Each district is setting up its own control room to directly connect the top leadership with booth-level workers and their detailed profiles.
Daily progress is tracked. Some units admit the toughest challenge is fulfilling the 20 per cent women’s quota and setting up the new “mandal units”—a fresh tier between blocks and booths. Each mandal covers 20–25 booths, with an estimated 8,000 mandals planned across the state.
“This is an internal party exercise driven by volunteers, mostly women, at the state control room,” said Sanjay Dixit, a senior Congress leader overseeing the Connect Centre, also known as the Sathi Centre. “Lawyers, teachers and other professionals are volunteering to build the cadre and connect every district to the headquarters.”
