The Congress party will get its new president on Wednesday, the first non-Gandhi chief in 24 years. The counting begin at 10 am and the results are likely to be out by 4 pm.
The ballot boxes from all state headquarters have been brought to the counting centre at the AICC headquarters in Delhi. All sealed ballot boxes from the 68 polling booths set up across the country are kept in a "strong room" at the party office, reported PTI.
The sealed ballot boxes will be opened before the candidates' agents, and the ballot papers will be mixed repeatedly.
Over 9,500 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates from across the country voted on October 17 to elect the new president across the state.
Congress central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry has expressed satisfaction with the party's presidential polls process, saying it was "free, fair and transparent". He has also said it was a secret ballot and no one would get to know who voted for whom.
This is also the sixth time in its 137-year-history that the party is holding elections to pick a new chief. Adding to its significance is the fact that the new president would replace Sonia Gandhi, the longest-serving party president. Sonia has been leading the party since 1998, barring the two years between 2017 and 2019, when Rahul Gandhi took over from her.
While Mallikarjun Kharge is considered the firm favourite to become the new president after being labelled the 'official unofficial candidate' of the Gandhis, 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, has always been a loyalist to the Gandhis. During his campaigning, he reiterated that he sees "no shame in taking the advice of the Gandhis" if elected party president.
But, Shashi Tharoor, a 66-year-old parliamentarian, joined the Congress in 2009, after an eventful stint with the United Nations. A social media pioneer and a suave personality, he had 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 had complained of unfair treatment during the poll campaigning, claiming some senior leaders supporting Kharge were "indulging in netagiri" and telling party workers that "they know who Sonia Gandhi wants elected."
