NDP leadership race: Appadurai supporters rally against disqualification

The NDP leadership race may effectively be over as soon as Wednesday evening with the party's provincial executive meeting to decide whether or not to disqualify one of the contestants.

Ahead of the meeting, at the B.C. Legislature, new NDP members who support Anjali Appadurai staged a funeral for democracy. The party’s chief electoral officer is recommending Appadurai be disqualified from the race.

‘SERIOUS IMPROPER CONDUCT’

After receiving complaints about how new members were recruited, the party's chief electoral officer Elizabeth Cull investigated. In a report, she concluded:

"Ms. Appadurai engaged in serious improper conduct by co-ordinating with third parties, including Dogwood, that conducted membership drives on her behalf. The CEO decided that the harm from this misconduct cannot be remedied with any consequence short of disqualification of the Appadurai campaign."

At a news conference, Appadurai rejected those claims and accused the party of changing its rules mid-campaign.

"Her whole case around Dogwood rests on that: A new and controversial interpretation of the rules, issued mid-campaign, and applied retroactively," the candidate said.

Dogwood, an environmental organization, denied colluding with the Appadurai campaign. A statement from the organization reads, in part:

“This was conducted separately from any candidate’s campaign. No supporter data or lists were shared with candidates. The BC NDP was happy to take membership fees and contact information from those people, many of whom were past NDP members.”

Elections BC is investigating whether the actions of Dogwood broke any election laws. 

NEW MEMBERS MAY NOT BE ABLE TO VOTE

Penny Crawford was one of those chanting "democracy now" outside the legislature Wednesday. She explained to CTV News that she joined the party to have her voice heard. Only party members can vote for leader. In this case, the leader will also become premier. John Horgan announced in June he would step down, which triggered the race.

"We're very concerned that they're going to go through with the disqualification of a legitimate candidate: The first brown, young climate champion that's come forward," she added.

Appadurai’s supporters also staged a small protest in Vancouver, part of last-ditch efforts to pressure the NDP into allowing Appadurai to remain in the race.

In Vancouver, Karly Pinch told CTV News she had never joined a political party before, but was motived because Appadurai's focus on the climate spoke to her.

"Voter numbers are going down people aren't excited about voting. They don't think their votes matter, yet we saw with this leadership race thousands of members signing up because we were actually excited about something," Pinch added.

Appadurai claimed Elections BC only regulates leadership donation limits. That's not true. Elections BC says contributions from organizations are prohibited.

Only party members can vote in the race, and Appadurai believes that's the crux of the issue.

"In 25 days, my underdog campaign, rooted in social movements and the support of thousands of everyday people across the province, brought in many more memberships than my front-runner opponent," she said.

She noted the party hasn't released membership numbers, so it's impossible to know if that claim is true.

Still, she concluded:

"The number of my supporters was just too high to disqualify a sufficient number of them to secure a win for my opponent. So they decided to disqualify just one member, instead: Me."

NDP PROVINCIAL EXECUTIVE TO MAKE THE CALL

The meeting is set for 6 p.m. and according to a statement from party president Aaron Sumexheltza, the group making the call was elected by NDP members at the last convention.

Former party president Moe Sihota believes due diligence was done and the executive council will vote to oust Appadurai.

"I don't know if it's a surprise, but I think it's a deep disappointment. I think any time you have a contest for leadership, you want a contest," Sihota told CTV News.

Asked whether this may dissuade other BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and other people of colour) people from coming forward, Sihota noted the NDP is a party of firsts.

"You want to create opportunities for people of different ethnic backgrounds to succeed. But we all understood if we wanted to play in this game we had to play by the rules that apply to politics and she seems to have violated them," Sihota added.

In Victoria, Crawford said she rescinded her Green Party membership to take part in the leadership race and have her voice heard.

"Many of us – me included – voted for Horgan in 2017. I was pleased to see him take office, but he hasn't followed through on his promise,” Crawford added.

David Eby – a former cabinet minister – is the only other candidate for leader.