Poll schedule to elect new Congress chief gets underway
New Delhi: The process for the election of Congress president got underway on Sunday, with the party's election authority saying it would stick to the schedule of electing a new chief by September 20.
Chairman of the party's Central Election Authority Madhusudan Mistry said that it was up to the Congress Working Committee to approve the final date for the election of the Congress chief, which could be any day between August 21 to September 20.
The CWC had decided that elections for block committees and one member each of the Pradesh Congress Committee will be held from April 16 to May 31, 2022; district committee chiefs and executive will be elected between June 1 and July 20, PCC chiefs and AICC members between July 21 and August 20, 2022 and AICC president between August 21 and September 20.
"We will stick to the schedule. We have already forwarded the election schedule to the party leadership and are awaiting a nod from the CWC which will fix the final dates for the Congress president's election," Mistry said. Asked if organisational elections at the level of Block, District and Pradesh Congress Committees have concluded, he said the process has been duly completed.
However, Mistry said the Election Authority is in the process of finalising the AICC delegates who will vote in the crucial election for the top party post. "The exact date will be finalised by the Working Committee," he said, adding that a meeting of the party's top decision-making body will be held soon. Sonia Gandhi and the party have been saying that the Congress would have its new president by September 20. It is, meanwhile, learnt that the G-23 is keeping a close watch at the election process and its transparency.
The grouping comprising prominent veterans including former Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and his deputy Anand Sharma, besides Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Manish Tewari, has been insisting on genuine elections right from the block up to the CWC level.
Even as Mistry insisted that the poll authority would stick to the poll schedule, the party appeared in the dark on potential candidates for the key race, with Rahul Gandhi continuing to display unwillingness
to contest.
