After a long lull, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) office in New Delhi on October 17 was buzzing with activities as Congress delegates arrived to cast their vote to elect a non-Gandhi Congress president in 24 years.
Senior party leaders, former finance minister P. Chidambaram and senior leader Jairam Ramesh were the first to cast their votes at the AICC headquarters today. Polling for the Congress president's post had commenced at 10 AM.
Later at 11 AM, Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi along with general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra arrived to cast their votes. All the security arrangements were put in place to ensure the polling goes smoothly.
In Pics | Sonia, Rahul, and other Congress leaders cast their vote in party presidential election
While entering the designated polling booth, Sonia Gandhi was asked whether she is happy. In response she said, “I have been waiting for a long time for this.”
As Sonia Gandhi left, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reached Congress office to cast his vote amidst tight security. Voting is taking place at over 65 polling booths across all State unit headquarters in the country.
Over 9000 Pradesh Congress Committee delegates will be electing the Congress president.
The results will be declared soon after the counting of votes on October 19. Elections for Congress chief is a direct contest between Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor and former leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.
After filing their nominations, both the contestants were campaigning in different states. However, political experts believe Kharge is being supported by senior Congress leaders and party high command as well.
Shashi Tharoor reached Congress party office in Thiruvananthapuram to cast his vote, whereas Mallikarjun Kharge exercised his right in Bengaluru.
Congress party had made special arrangements for the delegates who are part of the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Rahul Gandhi who is leading the Yatra voted in Karnataka. He had resigned as party president on May 25, 2019 taking responsibility for the party’s poor performance in the general elections.
His departure from the official role had raised the question about who is leading the party, with no clear answers for the longest time.
Last time, the elections were planned for June 2021, but the party’s top decision making body had deferred it because of COVID-19 crisis.
The Congress delegates are voting with a tick mark for the candidate they want to elect as Congress chief. Once the polling ends, all the sealed boxes will be taken to Delhi for counting of votes.
The polling process is being monitored by Congress Central Election Authority. Party has put QR codes on the cards of the delegates for the voting process.
Last poll for the Congress president was held in 2000, when Sonia Gandhi had contested against Jitendra Prasada.
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