New Delhi: Over 9,000 Congress Party delegates are all set to elect their ideal candidate among the two parliamentarians- Shashi and Mallikarjun Kharge- today for the congress party top post.
The voting will be done between 10 am and 4 pm on Monday, the results will be declared on October 19.
“The delegates from all states will vote at their respective polling stations with a ‘tick’ mark for the candidate they support. Arrangements have been made for smooth polling,” said Central Election Authority Chairman of Congress Madhusudan Mistry.
“Ballot boxes will reach Delhi on Oct 18 & counting of votes will be done on October 19. Polling booth set up at AICC as well, where over 50 people will vote. The whole polling process will be fair & free, no doubt about that,’ he added.
HIGHLIGHTS
- It is not the first time that a non-Gandhi leader is contesting for the party presidency post-Independence, Jitendra Prasad contested for the post of President about 22 years ago against Sonia Gandhi in which Sonia emerged as a winner holding the mantle of the party for 20 years.
- Sonia Gandhi is the longest-serving president of the party, having held the office for over twenty years from 1998 to 2017 and since 2019.
- This time no member of the Gandhi family is contesting for the post of President.
- This is the sixth time in its nearly 137-year-old history that polls will be held to elect the President of the party. In the 2017 elections, Rahul Gandhi became the president unopposed.
- “There’s no problem with our ideology, but I want to bring a change in our way of work… Mallikarjun Kharge is an experienced leader, if he wins, we’ll work in cooperation naturally,” Congress Presidential candidate Shashi Tharoor said ahead of the polls.
- Apart from the Congress headquarters in the states, the voting facilities will also be available at the party’s central headquarters at 24 Akbar Road.
- In Delhi, those delegates can cast their vote who have obtained prior permission from the Central Election Authority to cast their vote in Delhi instead of their own state.
- Congress Working Committee members including Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Priyanka Gandhi and some senior leaders will vote in the booth at the Congress headquarters.
- About 40 delegates involved in the Bharat Jodo Yatra, including Rahul Gandhi, will be able to cast their vote in the camp itself.
- A polling station is being set up at the Sanganakallu campsite in Bellary.
- While the two contestants Shashi Tharoor and Mallikarjun Kharge will cast their votes in their respective state’s headquarters Trivendram and Bengaluru.
- After voting, the ballot boxes from all the states will be brought back to Delhi, where the results will be announced after the counting of votes on October 19.