New Delhi: There was excitement in the Congress party on Sunday, a day ahead of the crucial presidential polls which will take place on October 17 after a gap of 22 years. The polls are also being watched with keen interest as the grand old party is set to elect a non-Gandhi as president after a gap of 24 years.
Though the Gandhi family will continue to lead the party, the new president is expected to work in tandem to address future challenges like restrengthening the organization, ensuring victory in state polls and forging opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“There is excitement in the party over the presidential polls. Only the Congress party conducts an election like this. The polls are a positive thing. The party and the cadre are taking it in the right spirit. Both the candidates are taking it in a very positive way. They are complementing each other wherever possible.
It is happening in a true competitive spirit. Whoever wins, we will have a leader in Rahul Gandhi and a party president who will take care of the organizational issues and party management,” AICC secretary in charge of organization Vamshi Chand Reddy told ETV Bharat.
The last Congress presidential elections took place in 2000 when Sonia Gandhi defeated Jitendra Prasad by a heavy margin. Before that, she had taken over the reins of the party in 1998. The Congress had its last non-Gandhi president in 1996 when Sitaram Kesri was elected to the top party post defeating Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot.
On October 17, 2022, over 9000 PCC delegates will elect the next non-Gandhi president from amongst Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor. The two came into the fray after Rahul Gandhi refused to file his papers. Rahul was elected party president unanimously in 2017 but resigned in 2019 owning up to responsibility for the Lok Sabha polls loss. Since then Sonia Gandhi has continued as interim chief.
Also read: Congress youngsters with me, seniors backing Kharge: Tharoor
Over the past few weeks, the role of the Gandhi family after the new president takes over has been talked about in the party. Vamshi Reddy cited the views expressed recently by former union minister P Chidambaram to point out that in a political party there is a leader and a president and the leader can also be the president or he may be different from the president.
“Here we would have a leader in Rahul Gandhi who would focus on people’s issues and some other person as the party president to take care of the organization. In a democracy, those who win votes are the leader and they matter the most. Rahul Gandhi is attracting huge support from people in the Bharat Jodo yatra. He is our leader,” said Reddy.
While the yatra is drawing huge public support and has added to the Congress’ confidence, the need to restrengthen the organization has been highlighted by both presidential candidates.
Tharoor has highlighted the need to decentralize decision-making while Kharge has promised to implement the Udaipur Declaration which aims to push key reforms in the party like having half of the office bearers under 50 years of age, one person, one post norm, and one family one ticket norm.
Sonia Gandhi had set up a task force to coordinate the implementation of the Udaipur Declaration and Kharge assured the PCC delegates to expedite the process if he wins. Throughout the campaign period, both candidates travelled across the country to seek support from the PCC delegates and articulated their vision for the party.
Also read: Some leaders openly supporting Kharge disturbs level-playing field, says Tharoor
However, Tharoor got less response from the state units which came out overwhelmingly in support of Kharge, seen as the ‘official’ candidate who had the blessings of the Gandhi family. “There is no official candidate. The PCC delegates will vote as per their conscience,” Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry told ETV Bharat.
On Saturday, Mistry reviewed the arrangements for a fair poll along with the state polling officers and handed over the ballot papers to them. While the PCC delegates will vote at the state headquarters, the AICC in-charges of various states have been asked to vote in their respective home states or at the party national headquarters in Delhi so they are not able to influence the process in any way.
Rahul Gandhi, a PCC delegate from UP, will vote at the Sanganakallu campsite in the Bellary district of Karnataka along with 40 Bharat Yatris, who are PCC delegates from different states. According to Mistry, the veracity of the voters will be checked through specially designed ID cards and around 36 polling stations and 67 booths have been set up across the country.
“Election will take place on October 17 in every state capital between 10 am to 4 pm. The voting will be by a secret ballot. Later, all the ballot boxes will be brought to the AICC headquarters and kept in a strong room. The results would be announced on October 19 after the counting of votes is over,” Mistry said.
