Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 28: The election for a full-time Congress President will be held on October 17, delayed from September 20 as originally scheduled, the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision-making body, which met virtually on Sunday, decided.
Approving the schedule for the election of the next AICC president, the CWC said the notification for the election will be issued on September 22 while the filing of nomination will begin on September 24. The last day to file nomination will be September 30. Date of scrutiny of nomination has been fixed on October 1 and the last date for withdrawal of nomination will be October 8. The election for the post of president will be held on October 17 and counting of votes, if necessary, and the declaration of results would be on October 19.
The CWC met on Sunday under the chairmanship of Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi. The final schedule of the dates was suggested by the Central Election Authority of the AICC for election to the post of Congress President. “CWC met under Sonia Gandhi and approved the final schedule,” Congress MP KC Venugopal said.
Former Congress President and party MP Rahul Gandhi attended the CWC meeting virtually along with his mother Sonia Gandhi and sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Both the brother and sister are with Sonia Gandhi who is currently in the United States for a medical check-up.
The meeting took place in the shadow of the resignation of senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who, in his resignation letter, tore into Rahul Gandhi and his style of functioning. The Congress, dealing with the fallout of a series of high profile exits, including that of Kapil Sibal and Ashwani Kumar, has attempted to deflect the latest blow by alleging that Azad’s DNA had been “Modi-fied” and linking his resignation to the end of his Rajya Sabha tenure.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has emerged as the top choice for the Congress president’s post. A section of the media reported that Sonia Gandhi had requested him to contest during a meeting which she held before leaving for medical check-up abroad.
Also, Gehlot has publicly exhorted Rahul Gandhi to return as the party President. However, uncertainty and suspense continue on the issue. Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi is persisting with his stance that he will not be the AICC president.
Among others present were Anand Sharma, who was part of the G-23 dissident group, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, party’s central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry, K C Venugopal, former Union Ministers Jairam Ramesh, Mukul Wasnik and P. Chidambaram and Ashok Gehlot along with his Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel. Anand Sharma had met Azad on Saturday and was closeted with him for nearly an hour.
