In a historic move, the voting to elect the president of Congress party began on Monday. Senior party leader P Chidambaram cast the first vote at the AICC headquarters in Delhi. AICC communications in-charge and senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also casted his vote.
Over 9,000 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates are expected vote on Monday to elect the new Congress president. This is the sixth time in its 137-year-history that the party is holding elections to pick a new chief.
Monday will also mark the first time in 24 years that a non-Gandhi takes up the mantle of the party chief. The election will be conducted through secret ballots set up at the AICC headquarters in Delhi and 65 other polling booths across various states.
The voters have been instructed to put a tick mark in the box in front of the candidate whom they wish to vote for. Putting any other symbol or writing a number would make the vote invalid, party Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry said in a statement.
Party's interim president Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are likely to cast their votes at the AICC headquarters while Rahul Gandhi, along with 40 other Bharat Jodo Yatris, will vote at a campsite in Karnataka's Sanganakallu.
This is the polling booth at the #BharatJodoYatra campsite in Sanganakallu that will open at 10am. It is the meeting room container converted into a polling booth for the Congress Presidential elections. pic.twitter.com/3LvvALEHp9
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) October 17, 2022
In the fray are senior party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor. While the veteran leader Kharge is considered the Gandhi family's 'unofficial official candidate,' Tharoor has projected himself as a candidate of change.
Kharge, an 80-year-old veteran from Karnataka who has put half a decade in politics, said on Sunday that he would have no shame in taking the advice of the Gandhis in case he is elected party president. Responding to allegations of being remote-controlled by Gandhis, Kharge said: "The BJP indulges in such a campaign and others follow it. Sonia Gandhi has worked for 20 years in the organisation...Rahul Gandhi was also president...they have struggled for the party and put their strength for its growth."
Shashi Tharoor, a 66-year-old parliamentarian, asserted that in the change he envisions, the party's "values and loyalties" will remain the same with only the ways of achieving the goals transforming. He also took a veiled dig at some senior leaders supporting Kharge, saying some colleagues were "indulging in 'netagiri' and telling party workers" that they know whom Sonia Gandhi wants to be elected.
"If anyone has "fear or doubt" in their mind, the party has made it clear that it will be a secret ballot," Tharoor said in Lucknow and urged the Congress delegates to listen to their hearts while voting to elect the new party president.
After voting, the ballot boxes will be brought to Delhi where they will be counted. The results will be announced on October 19.
(With inputs from PTI)