Cong Prez Poll: Face-off Between Tharoor and Gehlot, Tharoor to File Nomination on Sep 30

New Delhi: Congress election for the party’s top post is gearing up for an electoral face-off as Congress MP Shashi Tharoor officially entered the race to become the next Congress President on Saturday. 

Tharoor's close aide Aalim Javeri collected the forms on his behalf from the office of the party's central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry on the first day of the start of the nomination process. Congress sources are saying Tharoor is likely to file his papers on the last day of the nomination process on September 30.

Earlier on Friday, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced his candidature for the Congress president's post. Meanwhile, Tharoor may try to collect nomination-endorsing signatures from across the country, sources told PTI. More than 9,000 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates will vote in the poll.

As per the GoP’s election rule, at least 10 Pradesh Congress Committee delegates are needed to endorse a candidate. Over two decades later, the Congress is set to see a contest for the post of party chief. The last time Congress saw a contest for the party president's post in November 2000. In this election, Jitendra Prasada had lost to Sonia Gandhi.

Delhi | Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's representative collects nomination papers for the party's presidential election from Madhusudan Mistry - the party's Central Election Authority chairman. pic.twitter.com/kQlG26SPvc

— ANI (@ANI) September 24, 2022

It is worth mentioning here that Tharoor on Monday had met Sonia Gandhi and expressed his intention to contest the poll. The Congress president conveyed she would stay ‘neutral’ in the elections. 

The process for filing nominations for the election will be held from September 24 to 30. The date for scrutiny of the nomination papers is October 1, while the last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 8. According to sources, the final list of candidates will be published at 5 pm on October 8.

The polling, if needed, will be held on October 17. The counting of votes will be taken up on October 19 and the results will be declared the same day.

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