The Congress party is set to get a new president today. Counting of votes for the post of Congress President will take place today and with this, after 24 years, a leader from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family will be elected as the president of the country’s oldest party. Former Union ministers Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor are in the fray. Sources said that the counting of votes will start from 10 am on Wednesday and all preparations have been completed for the same.
The new president will replace Sonia Gandhi, who serves as the interim president after Rahul Gandhi stepped down following the party’s defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The result is likely to be declared between 3 pm to 4 pm. Mallikarjun Kharge is being seen as a strong contender to win the election. Sources said that five agents from both the sides will oversee the counting while two agents from both the sides will be kept in reserve.
The ballot boxes from the state headquarters have reached the counting place in the Congress office. An official of the election authority said that the ballot boxes from all the polling stations in the country have been brought to the Congress headquarters. They are kept in the strong room built inside the Congress headquarters. Counting of votes will take place at the party headquarters itself. It is believed that apart from the agents of both the candidates, their supporters will also reach the Congress headquarters on the occasion of counting of votes.
Voting took place on Monday
The chairman of the Central Election Authority will announce the result after the counting of votes. About 9500 delegates (members of the electoral college), including Congress President Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi and several other senior leaders, voted on Monday (October 17) to elect the new President of the party.
Seven-eight tables will be made for counting of votes and each table will have two persons. Congress sources said the elected president would take charge in the presence of senior leaders at a program to be held at the Congress headquarters after Diwali. The certificate will be given to the winning candidate on Wednesday or later it is not decided yet.
Earlier the name of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was running for this post, he will also be in Delhi on Wednesday. At the same time, Rahul Gandhi will continue on Congress’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ he will not be in Delhi during the counting of votes.
About 9900 delegates of Congress were eligible to vote to elect the party chief. Polling was held at around 68 polling stations, including the Congress headquarters. For the sixth time in the 137-year history of the Congress party, elections have been held for the post of president.
According to party general secretary Jairam Ramesh, elections for the post of president have been held in 1939, 1950, 1977, 1997 and 2000. This time the election for the post of President has been held after 22 years. He told that after 24 years from this election, a leader outside the Gandhi family will be elected the president of the country’s oldest party. Prior to this, Sitaram Kesari had been a non-Gandhi president.
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