Alok Kumar Dash Elected as Puri District Youth Congress President
Alok Kumar Dash has been elected as the new Youth Congress President of Puri district. A rising youth leader and social worker from Puri city, he outperformed all other aspirants to secure the highest number of votes, thereby claiming the leadership position. The election process for the Puri District Youth Congress has officially concluded, with the final results now declared. This internal election began on February 16, 2023, and candidates filed their nominations between February 20 and March 3. During this period, many hopefuls submitted their nominations for the positions of Assembly and District Youth Congress Presidents, primarily through social media platforms.
From March 7 to April 10, the membership enrollment process for the Youth Congress was conducted using a dedicated app. According to the election guidelines, the candidate with the highest number of memberships would be declared President, the runner-up would be Vice President, and the third-place candidate would assume the role of General Secretary. There were also reserved Vice President positions for SC/ST categories, ensuring that even candidates with fewer votes could still earn leadership roles.
Following a detailed verification and scrutiny process that continued until July 10, over 14,000 memberships were recorded in Puri district. After invalid and duplicate entries were removed, 7,770 memberships were confirmed for the final result count. Alok Kumar Dash secured 3,756 of these, emerging victorious. His closest competitor, Chetan Mishra, received 3,081 votes and was appointed as Vice President. Alok Mallik, representing the SC category, earned 154 votes to become Vice President, while Pooja Bej was elected as Vice President under the women’s quota with 72 votes.
Other candidates who participated in the election include Pradipta Parida with 227 votes, Ashwini Kumar Balabantray with 353 votes, and Prafulla Pradhan with 15 votes, all of whom were appointed as General Secretaries of the district Youth Congress. In the Puri Assembly constituency, Manoj Mandal won the position of Youth Congress President with 1,210 votes. Amrit Ranjan Mahapatra came in second with 963 votes and became Vice President. Anil Kumar Bej was elected Vice President from the OBC category with 77 votes, while Manoj Behera was elected from the SC category with 33 votes. Chiku Lenka, with 102 votes, assumed the position of General Secretary for the Puri Assembly Youth Congress.
Similar election processes were followed across other Assembly constituencies in Puri district, allowing many young leaders to secure various posts through active participation and support from the youth members. After his victory, Alok Kumar Dash emphasized that the Congress Party is not just a political organization but also a center for learning the principles of democracy. He praised the party’s transparent internal election system, which respects and empowers every member’s right to choose.
He expressed hope that he would grow to become a dedicated and socially committed leader like Rahul Gandhi. He reaffirmed his commitment to fighting for the rights of the people of Puri and standing with them through every struggle. Looking ahead, he announced plans to launch strong movements to demand permanent employment solutions for local youths and to defend the rights of slum dwellers. He vowed to confront the government when necessary and to ensure that visiting ministers and leaders are held accountable for their promises and responsibilities to Puri.
