New Delhi, 16th October 2022: Sonia, Rahul, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have decided to stay out of the race for the post of President this time so that a member outside the Gandhi family will take over the responsibility after a gap of 24 years.

Senior Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor will fight for the post of Congress President on Monday. With the result of the contest, after 24 years in Congress, someone from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family will become the President. More than 9,000 representatives of Pradesh Congress Committees (PCCs) will elect the new president of the party through a secret ballot. Polling will be held at the party headquarters here and more than 65 centres across the country.

Rahul will cast his vote in Bellary itself. For the sixth time in the 137-year history of the Congress, elections are being held for the post of President.

While Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are likely to vote at the AICC headquarters here, Rahul Gandhi will participate in the polling at the Bharat Jodo Yatra campsite at Sanganakallu in Bellary in Karnataka. He will be accompanied by around 40 PCC representatives, who are involved in the yatra. Kharge is considered a strong contender for the party president’s post due to his proximity to the Gandhi family and the support of several senior leaders.

Although there is no official Gandhi family candidate, Tharoor is also projecting himself as a strong candidate for change in the party. Tharoor raised the issue of unequal opportunities during the election campaign, but along with Kharge and the party, he has also acknowledged that members of the Gandhi family are neutral and there is no ‘official candidate.’ When asked about the importance of the election, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh told PTI that he has always relied on the Congress model of consensus building for such posts. He said that in the post-Jawaharlal Nehru period, this model was trusted the most.

Sonia, Rahul, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have decided to stay out of the race for the post of president this time so that a member from outside the Gandhi family will take over the responsibility after a gap of 24 years. Congress’s Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry said on Wednesday that the election of the Congress president will be held through a secret ballot, and no one will know who voted for whom. He said that equal opportunities have been provided to both candidates.