Thiruvananthapuram, June 6 (IANS) The membership of the Youth Congress is all set to touch the half million-mark in Kerala, a Congress legislator said Sunday.

Congress legislator P.C. Vishnunadh, who will contest for the post of Youth Congress president in the elections to be held in August, told IANS that initial indications are that the total number of Youth Congress members in the state will touch half a million.

‘We can’t make a comparison to the past because such a membership drive has never taken place,’ Vishnunadh said.

‘There could be close to a lakh new members and we feel that there would be at least one lakh women members also. The correct figures are expected in the coming days as the two returning officers are busy compiling the data,’ Vishnunadh said.

The minimum age for entry into the Youth Congress is 18 and the maximum age is 35. This time instead of dividing the Youth Congress based on the 14 districts of the state, each of the 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state have been divided into two.

Vipin Jose, a member of the Youth Congress who is planning to contest for the post of president from the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha unit said: ‘The best part this time is that it has been made very clear in the rules that one person will have only one party post and hence more number of people can move up the ladder. This time a person can take membership from where he lives only.’

Congress leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Sachin Pilot and Mohammed Azharuddin had come to the state for interaction with Youth Congress members.