The Congress party in Jharkhand is working hard to stay active beyond election time. K. Raju, AICC in-charge for Jharkhand, has created a year-long plan involving party workers across 4,350 gram panchayats. Each village has a committee of 12 members, representing different communities, who meet once a month on fixed dates. "Villagers should know that on a particular day every month, the Congress committee meets, and that they can approach it with their grievances and issues," said Mr. Raju. This aims to break the belief that Congress appears only during elections. The structure also includes mandal committees and 312 block committees, which monitor these village groups. Meeting dates at all levels are fixed for the entire year so leaders and the public can plan ahead. Congress focuses on local issues too. One key effort is ensuring the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, or PESA, works effectively. Jharkhand has nearly 2,000 tribal villages, and only recently did the government notify rules to apply PESA. Volunteers now train gram sabhas to implement the Act. Another big concern is the party's protest against replacing MGNREGA with the new VB-GRAM G scheme. Gram Panchayat Congress Committees hold monthly talks with MGNREGA workers about their rights and possible effects on migration. Finally, Congress is training 30,000 booth-level agents to watch over voter rolls in a planned special revision. "Our aim is clear: not a single genuine voter should be disenfranchised," said Mr. Raju, noting that tribal and migrant populations are most at risk due to documentation rules. This active plan to listen, work, and respond aims to make Congress visible every day in Jharkhand's villages.