After years of demands and delays, the stage is finally set for the Congress Party’s presidential election to be held on Monday, October 17, where senior leaders Shashi Tharoor and Mallikarjun Kharge will face off for the top post. The contest between party veteran Kharge and high-profile MP Tharoor assumes significance as the party is set to get a non-Gandhi president in 24 years.
Over 9,000 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) representatives of the electoral college will elect the party chief in a secret ballot. Polling will be held between 10 am and 4 pm at the AICC headquarters in Delhi and over 65 polling booths across the country in the sixth election in the party’s 137-year history.
While party chief Sonia Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are expected to vote at the AICC headquarters in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi Ballari will vote at the Bharat Jodi Yatra camp in Sanganakallu, Karnataka along with around 40 other Bharat Yatris who are representatives of the PCC.
high stake election
Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge and Thiruvananthapuram MP Dr Shashi Tharoor are the two candidates for the top post in the party. Earlier Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh had also announced their candidature for the post. However, when Singh withdrew and became Kharge’s proponent, Gehlot had to withdraw after turmoil began in the party’s Rajasthan unit.
Kharge is seen as an edge over Tharoor because of his alleged closeness to the Gandhi family and the support of senior leaders. Kharge’s nomination was reportedly rejected by several members of the party including AK Antony, Ashok Gehlot, Ambika Soni, Mukul Wasnik, Abhishek Singhvi, Ajay Maken, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Digvijay Singh, Tariq Anwar, Salman Khurshid, Pramod Tiwari, PL Punia, Rajeev Shukla. Has the support of senior leaders. , Prithviraj Chavan and Manish Tewari.
Tharoor also admitted that recently in most states except Madhya Pradesh, senior leaders have rallied in support of Kharge and said that open support to his rival candidate has created a level playing field.
Tharoor, who has been building his campaign on social media on the tagline “Think tomorrow, think Tharoor”, has received support from young leaders like Sivaganga MP Karti Chidambaram, Kishanganj MP Mohammad Javed and Navgong MP Pradyut Bordoloi for his nomination. .
Tharoor had said that he and Kharge are allies and whoever wins will be the victory of the party. Kharge had also described Tharoor as his younger brother and said that there was no difference between them.
Furthermore, both the candidates and the party have maintained that Gandhi is neutral and there is no “official candidate”.
voting process
More than 9,000 representatives of the party’s electoral college will cast their votes at 66 polling stations across the country between 10 am and 4 pm on Monday. Delegates will cast their vote for the candidate they support with a ‘tick’ mark, Madhusudan Mistry, Central Election Congress’s authority chairman told news agency ANI.
On the eve of the poll, Mistry informed the delegates in a statement that the names of two candidates would be on the ballot paper. “Voters are instructed to put one” ✔️ (mark) in the box in front of the candidate they wish to vote for.
Putting any other symbol or writing a number will invalidate the vote,” he said.
extreme information
Congress
– are in between the two.
– In the next stop of Ahmedabad, put a tick mark against the name ️️️️️️️️
– Wrong in any way with a wrong error. pic.twitter.com/78V165K3z7— MP Congress (@INCMP) 16 October 2022
According to Mistry, arrangements have been made for smooth polling. After the polling is over, the ballot boxes will be collected and sent to the Congress headquarters in Delhi, where the counting of votes will take place on October 19, he said.
“The ballots will reach Delhi on October 18 and the counting of votes will take place on October 19. A polling station was also set up in AICC, where more than 50 people would vote. The entire voting process will be fair and free, there is no doubt about it,” Mistry said.
Special QR-coded ID card for voters
For the first time, the Central Election Authority of Congress has distributed special QR-coded ID cards on the lines of voter ID cards of the Election Commission of India to the delegates. Representatives who will have QR-coded ID cards will be allowed to cast their votes. The party has nominated around 6 crore new members. According to Congress’s data department head Praveen Chakraborty, the ID card has been brought to ensure transparency.
secret ballot
Voting will be done through secret ballot to ensure transparency in the voting process. The Central Election Authority has sent the ballot papers and boxes to the PCC offices, where elaborate arrangements have been made for the day of polling. The secret ballot process has been adopted to ensure that no one knows who voted for whom.
Manifesto and Promises
Both the candidates have launched a massive election campaign to woo the voters of the party. The campaign run by Tharoor is called “Think Tomorrow Think Tharoor”, while the official theme of Kharge’s campaign is #KaryaktaKharge and #KarykartatoCongressKargeyKharge.
Kharge has said that he does not have a separate election manifesto and his only agenda is to implement the announcement adopted by the party at the Chintan Shivir held earlier this year in Rajasthan. The Congress held a three-day brainstorming session ‘Chit Shivir’ in Rajasthan’s Udaipur in May to devise a strategy for realignment and revival of the party in the wake of a series of electoral defeats.
He promised to offer 50 per cent of party posts to those below the age of 50 if he wins the election. Kharge said that he believes in a collective approach and takes everyone including youth and women along and will work with all the members to take the party to newer heights.
The old man further said that he would try to solve the issues related to farmers, workers, SC, ST, OBC, minorities and small traders. He also said that there should be a fight against disinvestment of PSUs, rising unemployment, depreciating rupee, price rise and GST on essential commodities.
Stating that the situation in the country was “bad”, Kharge said he was contesting the election for the party president’s post “to fight against the BJP” and accused the ruling party of “diluting” autonomous bodies like the Central Bureau of Investigation. charged up. (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax Department.
Meanwhile, Tharoor said leaders like Kharge cannot bring change and will continue with the existing system, and promised to bring changes in the party as per the expectations of the workers.
He suggested that the Congress should rejuvenate itself, especially at the village, block, district and state as well as national level by bringing fresh faces and young blood to its leadership. The Thiruvananthapuram MP proposed decentralization of the organization and said that the Congress should give real powers to PCC presidents and empower the party’s grassroot level functionaries.
In his manifesto he said that the Congress should have a full-time president who is accessible to all and suggested five vice-presidents from different regions. Tharoor introduced the “one person one post” rule, term limits for party posts, 50% tickets for those under 50, and increased representation for women, youth, SC/ST/OBC and minorities in party positions. Including also promised to implement the Udaipur Declaration. ,
Candidates Profile
With over 50 years of experience in politics, Kharge has been elected MLA for nine consecutive terms and is often projected as a Dalit leader by his party colleagues. Kharge began his political journey as a union leader in his home district of Gulbarga, now Kalaburagi in Karnataka, and has since seen a strong rise in his political graph.
Tharoor, on the other hand, had a high-profile diplomatic career at the United Nations before entering politics. He belongs to the Nair community of Kerala and has studied in premier institutes here India and the U.S.
Tharoor’s “Final Appeal”
A day before polling, Tharoor made his last appeal to the voters in the party on Sunday. He said that he would combine past experiences with new energy to bring about a change in the way Congress works.
“I hope you have already come across my election manifesto. I know you all would have liked my message of decentralization and inclusion, but some of you are still hesitant with the idea of change,” Tharoor said in a video message posted on his Twitter handle.
My appeal to the representatives on the eve of voting @incIndia presidential election:#thinktomorrowthink tharoor pic.twitter.com/Bf2lB7KX92
— Shashi Tharoor (@shashi tharoor) 16 October 2022
“Whenever the time and the situation requires, the party has changed. These changes have only made the party stronger,” he said, assuring voters that he wanted to bring about a change in the way Congress works.
(with PTI inputs)
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