UP Congress surprises candidates with 14-question test for spokesperson’s job

Lucknow: What are the “failures” of the Yogi Adityanath government? What are the achievements of the Manmohan Singh government? How many Assembly seats make up one Lok Sabha seat? These are some of the questions that made up the Congress’ written test for candidates hoping to become party spokespersons in Uttar Pradesh. Around 70 hopefuls took the 14-question test in Lucknow on Thursday and appeared for interview conducted by the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC). The entire exercise was carried out in the presence of the party’s national spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi and national media coordinator Rahul Gupta. The Congress’ previous media team was recently dissolved by UPCC president Raj Babbar. The test came as a surprise for candidates as they were not informed about it in advance and were just told that there would be an “important meeting” on Thursday. “Such tests are not new and they keep happening in the AICC. Now we are conducting test on similar lines in UP too. It will be wrong to say that difficult questions were asked in the test. These are basic questions which a spokesperson should be able to answer. The new media team of the UPCC will work similar to the AICC media team,” said Priyanka Chaturvedi. Here’s a look at some of the questions asked in the test: — How many blocks and zones are there in Uttar Pradesh? — How many seats are reserved in UP in Lok Sabha elections? — How many seats did Congress win in 2004 and 2009? — What was the percentage of vote share that Congress got in 2014 Lok Sabha and 2017 Assembly elections? — How many Lok Sabha and Assembly seats are in UP? — In UP, how many Assembly seats make one Lok Sabha seat? — How many Lok Sabha seats have less then or more Assembly seats as per the rules? — What are the key points of failure of Yogi Adityanath government? — What were the achievements of the Manmohan Singh government? — What are the three main headlines today on which Congress spokespersons can issue statements? — Why do you want to become a spokesperson? Sources said the test and interview are part of the makeover the UPCC is set to undergo in the coming days. The party could even name a new state in-charge, who would be expected to strengthen the state unit and maintain coordination with the BSP and Samajwadi Party ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Source: News18