New Delhi
Some 9,200 Congress Party delegates will vote for the first time to elect a Congress President who doesn’t belong to the Nehru-Gandhi family. The contest was necessitated following several bouts of rebellions in India’s grand old political party and an exodus of top leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad.
The voters have to choose between two veteran parliamentarians- Shashi Tharoor and Mallikarjun Kharge. Tharoor is seen as a candidate representing the aspirational Congress cadres who want a change while Kharge signifies the status quo and is also a proxy for the Nehru-Gandhi family led by President Sonia Gandhi.
The voting will take place 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 and the counting of votes will be done on October 19. A polling booth was set up at AICC as well, where over 50 people will vote. The whole polling process will be fair and free, no doubt about that,' he added.
Mistry said 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 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 tomorrow.
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 states.
Congress Working Committee members including Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, 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 Thiruvanthapuram 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.
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