Congress presidential polls: Tharoor, Kharge and Tripathi file nominations

After weeks-long back and forth over candidature, three senior Congress leaders — Mallikarjun Kharge, Shashi Tharoor, and K N Tripathi — filed their nominations for the Congress president post on Friday.

Veteran Congressman Mallikarjun Kharge was the latest to join the fray. He is believed to be the party’s official choice. He will resign as Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha in accordance with Congress’ ‘one person one post’ rule adopted after the ‘Chintan Shivir’ held in Rajasthan’s Udaipur earlier this year.

Congress leader Digvijay Singh, who had collected nomination papers on Thursday, dropped out of the race and is backing Kharge.

On the last day of filing nominations, KN Tripathi was the first to file, followed by Shashi Tharoor and Mallikarjun Kharge.

While filing his nomination, Mallikarjun Kharge was joined by Ashok Gehlot, Digvijay Singh, Rajeev Shukla, Salman Khursheed, Pawan Bansal, Tariq Anwar, and Anand Sharma.

The leaders reached the All India Congress Committee office along with their supporters and workers.

Earlier Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot was the frontrunner but backed out following the political crisis in his state. Gehlot’s three loyalists have been issued a show cause notice by the central leadership for alleged indiscipline.

For the first time in over 24 years, someone from outside the Gandhi family is set to be the party chief.

The last person from outside the Gandhi family elected to the top post was Sitaram Kesri, who held the position from 1996 to 1998.

The election for the party president post is scheduled for October 17. There are over 9,000 electoral votes and voting will take place at Pradesh Congress Committee offices.

The contestants

KN Tripathi left Indian Air Force to join politics. He contested for the first time from the Daltoganj Assembly segment in Jharkhand on a Congress ticket in 2005 but lost. Later in 2009, he contested again and marked the victory. Tripathi was made a minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.

Mallikarjun Kharge, a Dalit leader and considered a hardcore party loyalist is close to all three Gandhis — Sonia, Rahul, and Priyanka. A politician with over 45 years of experience, Kharge has seen a steady rise in his career. Kharge also has a strong footing in Karnataka. In 2009, Kharge contested the general elections from the Gulbarga Parliamentary constituency and won his tenth consecutive election.

Shashi Tharoor is a Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram. He is also an Indian former foreign civil servant. Tharoor is currently a third-term Lok Sabha MP.