New Delhi

Congress president Sonia Gandhi along with her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday cast her vote in the party's poll to elect her successor.

The mother-daughter duo cast their votes at the AICC headquarters in Delhi.

"I have been waiting for a long time," Sonia Gandhi said when she was asked by mediapersons on the poll.

Voting for the party's presidential polls commenced at 10 am today and will culminate at 4 pm. Results will be declared on October 19.

The fate of the Congress party will be decided by over 9,000 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates who comprise the electoral college for electing the party chief.

Among others who cast their vote were former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, party MPs P Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh.

Party MP Shashi Tharoor, who is pitted against party veteran Mallikarjun Kharge for the top post of the Congress, said the revival of the grand old party has begun whatever the outcome and that the fate of the Indian National Congress lies in the hands of the party workers.

Tharoor said he was confident of winning the election but acknowledged the odds against him.

"I am confident. The fate of the Congress party is in the hands of party workers. The odds have been stacked against us as the party leaders and establishment were overwhelmingly with the other candidate," Tharoor told mediapersons at Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram on Monday.

On Thursday, Tharoor had alleged that he has been facing differential treatment from the party leaders as against his opponent Mallikarjun Kharge.

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This is the sixth time in the party’s history that polls are being conducted to elect the national president of the party.