On Monday, October 17, there will be a close election between Shashi Tharoor and Mallikarjun Kharge for the position of president of the Congress party. As the party elects a non-Gandhi president after more than 24 years, the contest for the AICC chiefship after years of internal strife and pandemic-induced delay is critical.
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ELECTION:
Voting is set to start at 10 am with elaborate preparations made at polling places around the nation. The electoral college, made up of over 9,000 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) members, selects the party leader in a confidential vote.
-A ‘secret ballot’ will be used for the voting process. CEA has already sent out the ballots and vote boxes, and the PCC offices have made elaborate preparations for election day. Nobody will know who voted for whom thanks to this ‘secret ballot’ voting procedure.
-Voting will take place today from 10 am to 4 pm at the AICC headquarters at more than 65 polling places. There will be two voting locations in Delhi: one at the AICC’s headquarters at 24 Akbar Road and the other at the Delhi Pradesh Congress committee office. 36 polling places and 67 booths would be used for the election, according to CEC members.
-According to reports, tomorrow at noon, at the AICC headquarters in Delhi, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will cast their ballots. At a Bharat Jodo Yatra campground in the Ballari region of Karnataka, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi will cast his vote in the party’s presidential election with about 40 other Bharat yatris who are PCC delegates.
– For the first time, special QR coded Id cards have been distributed to the delegates by CEA. Congress has enrolled around 6 crore new members. Without this voting card, the delegates will not be allowed to cast their votes. The ID card is must to ensure transparency.
-Votes for the new party president will be cast between 10am and 4pm tomorrow. The ballot paper will have the names of Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor on it. Voters are instructed to put a ‘tick’ in the box to indicate which candidate they support. The vote would be considered ‘invalid’ if any other symbol is written or number on the ballot paper.
-There will be six booths in Uttar Pradesh and there will be one booth for every 200 votes. Ballot boxes will reach Delhi on Oct 18 and counting of votes will be done on October 19. No AICC general secretaries, state in charges, secretaries and joint secretaries will be allowed to cast their vote at their assigned states.
Congress Party to vote today to elect its next president. Senior party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor are in the fray.
The counting of votes and declaration of results will take place in Delhi on October 19.
Visuals from AICC Headquarters, Delhi pic.twitter.com/bPwfdv1kZ0
— ANI (@ANI) October 17, 2022
THAROOR vs KHARGE
After nearly 25 years, Congress is set to pick a non-Gandhi president as party chief. Shashi Tharoor and Mallikarjun Kharge are facing off in an historic electoral contest. The Congress presidential election is taking place for the sixth time in the party’s 137-year history. Kharge is considered the firm favourite for his perceived proximity to the Gandhis and backing by senior leaders.
Both Shashi Tharoor and Murliampala Kharge have emphasised that the Gandhis hold a special place in the party. Kharge asserted that he was ‘the delegates’ candidate but asserted that there was no shame in taking the advice of the Gandhi family for the Congress presidential polls. ‘The DNA of Congress is linked to the DNA of Gandhi family’, Tharoor had asserted.
Ahead of the party's Presidential polls tomorrow, Congress's Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry states, "The Ballot Paper will have the names of two candidates (Mallikarjun Kharge & Shashi Tharoor) on it. Voters are instructed to put a 'tick' in the box…" pic.twitter.com/MQnU8PBPMU
— ANI (@ANI) October 16, 2022
PREVIOUS CONTESTS
Sitaram Kesari was the last non-Gandhi family leader who led the Congress party as it’s President. Sonia Gandhi won a landslide victory and, after winning the presidential poll in 1998 became the longest serving party chief. Rahul Gandhi was elected as party President in 2017. Wayanad MP didn’t change his 2019 stand but Kharge and Tharoor did.
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