Gehlot-Tharoor in race for Congress President’s post

Two veteran Congress leaders can contest for the post of party president. On one side is the Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot and on the other, party MP from Kerala Shashi Tharoor. According to sources, Gehlot can file his nomination anytime between September 26 and 28. At the same time, Tharoor has also made preparations to meet Sonia Gandhi on Monday.

According to sources, Tharoor met party interim president Sonia Gandhi on Monday and sought permission to contest the elections. However, Sonia told him in clear words that it is your decision to contest the elections. That is, this is your call, the election process of the party will be according to the rules set. Everyone has equal rights in this.

If Gehlot and Tharoor contest, it will be the first time in 20 years that a candidate other than the Gandhi family will be in the fray. Earlier, during Narasimha Rao’s tenure as Prime Minister, Sitaram Kesari had won the election of party president.

https://twitter.com/ShashiTharoor/status/1571724950167494657?s=20&t=SZHTNXkS49PHxHadBUzuIA

Campaign of more than 650 workers to reform the party

Recently, young members of Congress had given an online petition for changes in the party. Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Tharoor has supported this on Twitter. Sharing the petition of the workers, Tharoor wrote – I welcome this petition. So far more than 650 workers have signed it. I am happy to support this and take it forward.

Expectations of young workers from presidential candidate

In this online petition, young members of the party have demanded reforms. He said that every candidate for the post of President should take a pledge that if elected, he will fully implement the ‘Udaipur Navsankalp’. The ‘Udaipur Navsankalp’ was released after the Congress’s Chintan Shivir held in Udaipur, Rajasthan in May 2022, in which several reforms in the organization of the party were suggested. Among these, the talk of the arrangement of ‘one person, one post’ and ‘one family, one ticket’ are prominent.

Elections being held after big leaders leave the party

The election of Congress President is being held at a time when several prominent leaders including Kapil Sibal, Jaiveer Shergill, Sunil Jakhar, Amarinder Singh, RPN Singh, Ashwini Kumar and Hardik Patel have bid goodbye to the party in the last few months. The biggest name among them is that of Ghulam Nabi Azad, who, while leaving the party, questioned the single rule of the Gandhi family in the Congress.

The process of choosing Congress President will start from September 22

Notification for the election of Congress President will be issued on September 22. At the same time, the process of filing nominations will continue from September 24 to 30. The last date for withdrawal of nominations for the election process is October 8. Polling will be held on October 17 and results will be declared on October 19.

Election will be held if there are more candidates

The election of the Congress President will be done by about 9000 delegates of the State Congress Committee. At the same time, out of 23 members of the Congress Working Committee, 12 will be elected while 11 will be nominated. If there are more candidates for the 12 elected members of the Congress Working Committee, then there will be an election for them as well, if there is a consensus on 23 names then the election will not be held. The members of the Congress Working Committee will be elected after the completion of the election of the Congress President.

Those who fill the nomination have to keep this attention

Senior party leader Madhusudan Mistry, who is handling the entire election process, had said on Thursday that those who want to file nominations for the post of Congress President can check the list of delegates before September 20. At the same time, he will have to show the support of 10 Pradesh Congress Committee delegates for his nomination.

6 states proposed to make Rahul the president, Congress committees said – Rahul should be the president

Before the election of the Congress President, the Congress committees of 6 states have passed a resolution to hand over the command of the party to Rahul Gandhi. Recently, Maharashtra, Bihar and Tamil Nadu Congress Committees passed its resolution, while Rajasthan, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh have already approved it. The notification for the election of Congress President will be issued on September 23, while the election is proposed on October 17.