Congress President Election Today, Know How Party Delegates Will Vote To Choose Their New Chief

New Delhi: The Congress party gets set to have a non-Gandhi president in more than 24 years as senior Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor will face off in an electoral contest on Monday.

The voting will take place between 10 am and 4 pm on Monday and the results will be declared on October 19.

Congress President Voting Process

• 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,” Central Election Authority Chairman of Congress Madhusudan Mistry told news agency ANI.
• 68 booths have been set up at 40 centers across India where the process of voting will take place from 10 am to 4 pm.
• There are about 9,800 voters (state representatives) who will vote for one of the two candidates Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor in the poll to elect a new Congress President.
• According to news agency PTI, electors in the Congress presidential polls were asked to put a tick mark against the name of their choice on the ballot paper after Shashi Tharoor’s team took up with the party’s top poll body the issue of its earlier directive that voters write “1” to reflect their preference, stating that it may lead to confusion.
• “Ballot boxes will reach Delhi on October 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,” Madhusudan Mistry informed.

While interim party chief Sonia Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are expected to vote at the All Indian Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi will be voting at the Bharat Jodo Yatra campsite in Karnataka’s Sanganakallu in Ballari along with around 40 other “Bharat Yatris” who are PCC delegates (members of the electoral college).

280 delegates will cast their votes in the Delhi Congress office, A total of 75 Congress delegates including former PM Manmohan Singh and other Congress Working Committee (CWC) members will cast their votes in AICC headquarters, Delhi, as per ANI.

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Tharoor Vs Kharge – An Uneven Contest?

Tharoor will cast his vote at the Kerala Congress headquarters at Thiruvananthapuram, while Kharge will vote at Karnataka Congress office in Bengaluru.

Kharge is considered the unofficial choice for the AICC president’s post because of his perceived proximity to the Gandhi family as well as open backing by senior leaders, even as Tharoor has pitched himself as the candidate of change.

Even as Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh asked party members to not advocate for any particular candidate, senior leaders such as Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and senior Congress leader Manish Tewari have expressed support for the Karnataka MP.

The contrast was also noted by Tharoor who mentioned that Kharge’s campaign has seen several senior leaders, PCC chiefs, and top leaders receiving him at the state headquarters visited by him while he was mostly welcomed by young PCC delegates with PCC chiefs mostly absent from his events.

Tharoor has said during his campaign that he is the candidate of change while Kharge represents status quo.

This is the sixth time in the party’s 137-year history wherein the Congress President is being elected with a poll.

The last electoral contest for the top post of Congress took place in 2000 when Jitendra Prasada suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Sonia Gandhi.

She remained at the helm till 2017 when Rahul Gandhi was made Congress president. Sonia Gandhi returned as interim chief in 2019 after Rahul Gandhi resigned following the Lok Sabha polls debacle.

(With Agency Inputs)