New Delhi, October 16
Senior Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor will face-off in an electoral contest on Monday for the post of AICC chief, as the party gets set to have a non-Gandhi president in over 24 years.
Over 9,000 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates form the electoral college to pick the party chief in a secret ballot.
Voting would also take place at the AICC headquarters here and at over 65 polling booths across the country in an electoral contest which is taking place for the sixth time 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 here, Rahul Gandhi will be voting at the Bharat Jodo Yatra campsite in Karnataka’s Sanganakallu in Ballari along with around 40 other Bharat Yatris who are PCC delegates.
Kharge is considered the firm favourite for his perceived proximity to the Gandhis and backing by senior leaders, even as Tharoor has pitched himself as the candidate of change.
During the campaign, even though Tharoor has raised issues of uneven playing field, both candidates and the party have maintained that the Gandhis are neutral and that there is no “official candidate”.
Asked about the significance of the polls, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh told that he has always believed in the Congress model of evolving a consensus for such positions.
The most famous practitioner of this approach in the post-Nehruvian era was K Kamaraj, he noted.
“As we approach E-Day tomorrow this belief has become even more stronger. The reasons for this are pretty obvious,” Ramesh said without elaborating.
“I am not at all convinced that organisational elections actually strengthen the organisation in any way. They may serve individual purposes but their value in building a collective spirit is doubtful,” he said. Even so, the very fact that elections are taking place are of some significance, he added.
