New Delhi: The Congress’s central election authority on Thursday issued a notification for the AICC president polls, setting the ball rolling for electing the successor to the longest-serving party chief Sonia Gandhi.
Chairman of the Central Election Authority Madhusudan Mistry, under the power vested in him by provision of Article XVIII of the Constitution of the Indian National Congress, announced the election of the president of the party to be held as per the given schedule.
As per the notice issued on Thursday
- The process for filing nominations for the election will be held from September 24 to 30
- Nomination papers would be scrutinized on October 1
- The last date to withdrawn from the fray is October 8
- Elections would be held on October 17th, in case the election authority receives more than one nomination
- The results of the election woulf be announced on October 19th.
A day earlier, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot met Sonia Gandhi at her Delhi residence to discusa his woes of relinquishing the post of CM as Sachin Pilot brought up the One Man One Rule policy. “Let The MLAs Decide’: Unwilling to Vacate Rajasthan’s Cockpit for Pilot”, said Gehlot in a media interaction after his discourse with the senior Gandhi. Gehlot made it clear that he would file his nomination if the situation demands and that while he doesn’t think he can’t continue as CM, he won’t insist on it. He conveyed to Sonia that, firstly, Rajasthan was in a critical situation and any uncertainty now would help the BJP. Secondly, he told her that the MLAs must be asked before any decision is taken on a new CM.
In the past, this rule was never applied as Sachin Pilot was both deputy CM and state Congress president. The same was the case with Kamal Nath. Not just this, but when Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, and PV Narasimha Rao were prime ministers, they were also party presidents. Despite Mistrys’ confirmation of no such rule for president post, room for speculation on Gehlots resignation still exists.
Two candidatures would for sure be seen in the nomination process. As per sources, Sashi Tharoor who met Sonia Gandhi earlier also sought clearance and is ready to fray in the contest. While nomination by Gehlot is aslo confirmed, efforts are being made to persuade Rahul Gandhi to file for post .