Congress President Election LIVE
According to the latest updates for the Congress Presidential election, 71 per cent voting percentage has been recorded till 3 pm.
Congress President Election LIVE
Around 250 Congress delegates out of the total 407 in Gujarat have so far voted for the polls underway on Monday to elect the next All India Congress Committee (AICC) president, a party spokesperson said.
Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Shashi Tharoor are in the race for the top party post.
Gujarat Congress president Jagdish Thakor and former state chief Amit Chavda were among those who exercised their franchise at the state party headquarters in Paldi area of the city.
There was a queue of voters in the morning. Around 250 delegates, including senior state Congress leaders, cast their votes till 1.30 pm, party spokesperson Alok Sharma said.
Voting began at 10 am at the AICC headquarters in Delhi and at the party’s polling booths in state offices across the country.
PTI
Congress President Election LIVE
The Congress will emerge stronger in the country under its new national president, Goa party head Amit Patkar said on Monday after casting his vote for polls to elect the next All India Congress Committee (AICC) chief.
Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Shashi Tharoor are contesting the election for the top party post.
Out of the total 31 delegates in Goa, “75 per cent have cast their votes so far,” a senior party leader said.
The polling was being held at the state party headquarters in Panaji.
More than 9,000 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates form the electoral college to pick the party chief in a secret ballot.
PTI
Congress President Election LIVE
Former President Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit Mukherjee who had left his father’s party to join Trinamool Congress last year created a storm in a tea cup on Monday by urging his ex-party colleagues to vote for Malikarjun Kharge, in elections being held for the Congress President’s post, through a surprise tweet.
The Indian National Congress of which Mukherjee’s father and grandfather were members, is witnessing a contest for the post of party President with Kharge battling it out with his younger colleague Shashi Tharoor.
“Urge every voter of @INCIndia party to elect @Kharge ji, a very senior and experienced leader who has led @INCIndia Parliamentary Party in Lok Sabha,” Mukherjee, who has been twice elected as Congress MP from Jangipur, tweeted Monday morning.
The social media post created a storm of sorts with some Twitterati advising him not to interfere in the affairs of a party Mukherjee had left, while others speculated his future political plans.
PTI
Congress President Election LIVE
Veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who is a candidate for the Congress’ Presidential polls, for which voting is underway on Monday, greeted his opponent Shashi Tharoor with “best wishes”, and said both of them were contesting to strengthen the party and to build a better nation.
He even spoke to the Thiruvananthapuram MP earlier in the day.
“My best wishes to @ShashiTharoor. Spoke to him earlier today, both of us are contesting to strengthen @INCIndia to build a stronger & better nation for the future generations,” Kharge tweeted.
A Member of Rajya Sabha from Karnataka, the 80-year old cast his vote for the party’s presidential post at the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee office here, earlier today.
Results of the election will be declared on 19 October.
PTI
Congress President Election LIVE
“I am standing for change”, Congress presidential poll candidate Shashi Tharoor said on Monday after casting his vote along with 264 other party delegates from the state.
Of the total 310 delegates in Kerala, 264 cast their vote till 1 PM in favour of either Tharoor or his rival Mallikarjun Kharge, who has been openly supported by the senior party leaders in the southern state. Polling will end at 4 PM.
Prior to casting his vote, Tharoor told reporters here that there is a need for a change in how the party functions and this poll was part of that.
After casting his vote, he told reporters that he did not stand in the election for himself, but instead he stood for the Congress and the country.
“India needs a strong Congress. I did not contest for my political future, but for that of the Congress and India. I am here as a viable alternative. I am standing for change. A change in how the party functions,” he said.
PTI
Congress President Election LIVE
Congress MP Francisco Sardinha on Monday claimed that the Congress is the “only party” which can defeat the BJP and hence Rahul Gandhi should now stop the Bharat Jodo Yatra and go to Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat to campaign for the Assembly polls.
“I want Rahul Gandhi to stop the Bharat Jodo Yatra and go to Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat to awaken the public so that they vote for the only party that can defeat BJP. The only party that can be an opposition to BJP is Congress,” said Congress MP Francisco Sardinha after casting his vote for the next president of Congress.
The Election Commission on Friday declared that Assembly polls will be held in Himachal Pradesh on 12 November and the counting of votes will take place on 8 December.
ANI
Congress President Election LIVE
Mallikarjun Kharge vs Shashi Tharoor: Why Congress held elections only six times to pick its president
Voting for the much-touted Congress presidential election is underway. Mallikarjun Kharge is facing Shashi Tharoor in the polls that will elect a non-Gandhi party president after 24 years.
Senior leaders including incumbent Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, P Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh among others cast their vote today (17 October) in the All India Congress Committee (AICC) election.
Rahul Gandhi polled at the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ campsite at Karnataka’s Sanganakallu in Ballari.
The grand old party’s general secretary Jairam Ramesh has hailed the presidential elections as ‘historic’.
Congress President Election LIVE
Congress’ central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry on Monday said he is satisfied with the party’s presidential polls process, and asserted that the elections are “free, fair and transparent”.
Voting began on Monday in the Congress presidential polls as senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor face-off for the post of AICC chief.
Over 9,000 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates form the electoral college to pick the party chief in a secret ballot.
Asked about the polling going on at the 68 polling booths the party has set up for the polls, Mistry told PTI, “It is going quite smoothly everywhere, we don’t have any kind of adverse information from anywhere. Even old delegates are standing in queue to cast their vote, there is a lot of enthusiasm in delegates to cast their vote.”
PTI
Congress President Election LIVE
“Party leadership will remain. The new party president will decide how to take forward and implement the leadership’s vision,” says Congress leader Salman Khurshid at the AICC office in Delhi.