New Delhi: Senior Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor will face an election battle for the post of party president today (Monday). After 24 years in the Congress, there will be a president from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family. Over 9,000 representatives of Pradesh Congress Committees (PCCs) will elect the party’s new president through secret ballot

Polling will be held at the party headquarters in Delhi and over 65 booths across the country. This is the sixth time in the 137-year history of the Congress that elections are being held for the post of president. The results will be declared on October 19.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are likely to vote at the AICC headquarters, while Rahul Gandhi will take part in voting at the camp site of Bharat Jodo Yatra at Sanganakallu in Bellary in Karnataka. He will be joined by around 40 PCC representatives, who are part of the yatra.

Being close to the Gandhi family and supporting several senior leaders, Kharge is considered a strong contender for the post of party president. However, Tharoor is also projecting himself as a strong candidate for a 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 admitted that members of the Gandhi family are neutral and there is no “official candidate”.

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