New Delhi [India]October 17 (ANI): Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday cast her vote in the party elections to choose her successor.
When asked by media persons about the election, Sonia Gandhi said, “I have been waiting for a long time.” Sonia Gandhi casts her vote at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters.
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra along with her mother Sonia Gandhi also cast her vote for the next President of the Indian National Congress in the national capital on Monday.
Voting for the party president’s post began at 10 am today and will continue till 4 pm. The results will be declared on October 19. The fate of the Congress party will be decided by the over 9,000 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) representatives who form the electoral college for the election of the party chief.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also cast his vote to choose the new Congress President.
Congress MPs P Chidambaram, Jairam Ramesh and other party leaders also cast their votes at the AICC office in Delhi.
Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, who was pitted against party veteran Mallikarjun Kharge for the post of Congress president on Monday, said the revival of the oldest party has begun and the fate of the Indian National Congress lies in its hands. Party workers.
Tharoor said he was confident of winning the election, but acknowledged the odds were against him.
“I am sure. The fate of the Congress party rests in the hands of the party workers. The party leaders and establishment were heavily supported by another candidate, so difficulties have arisen against us,” Tharoor told media persons in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala today.
Tharoor also said that he had spoken to Kharge earlier in the day.
Kharge also told ANI today: “It is part of our internal election. Everything we said to each other is in a friendly manner. We have to form a party together. (Shashi) Tharoor called me and wished me well and I said the same thing.
Meanwhile, Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh, after voting for his desired new chief, said that the Congress was the only political party to hold elections for its president.
On Thursday, Tharoor had alleged that he was facing different treatment from party leaders against his rival Mallikarjun Kharge.
In the last week, Tharoor had said that he can act as a catalyst of change for the oldest party to revive the party’s presence in the country.
Meanwhile, Congress veteran and party’s presidential candidate Mallikarjun Kharge had said that party supremo Sonia Gandhi had not suggested his name and dismissed speculations of getting support from the interim president of the party.
Besides this, 280 other delegates will also cast their vote at the Delhi Congress office, sources said.
Representatives who have obtained prior permission from the Central Election Authority to cast their vote will vote in Delhi instead of their state today.
This is not the first time that a non-Gandhi leader is contesting for the post-independence post-independence party president, Jitendra Prasad contested for the president’s post against Sonia Gandhi almost 22 years ago in which she emerged as a winner. Was. Party for 20 years.
Sonia Gandhi is the longest-serving president of the party, having held the office for more than twenty years from 1998 to 2017 and from 2019.
This time no member of the Gandhi family is contesting for the post of President.
This is the sixth time in its nearly 137-year-old history that elections are being held to elect the party’s national president. In the 2017 elections, Rahul Gandhi became the president unopposed. (ANI)
This report is automatically generated from ANI news service. ThePrint assumes no responsibility for its contents.