Stage set for Congress presidential polls today 

Will be a free and fair election, says Nagaland Congress 

Morung Express News
Dimapur | October 16

The stage is set for first-ever Congress presidential polls in over two decades on Monday with Shashi Tharoor contesting against party colleague Mallikarjun Kharge for the top party post.

The polling will take place between 10AM-4PM via secret ballot. Altogether, 36 polling stations and 67 booths have reportedly been set-up across India for the election, including one at Congress Bhavan, Kohima.

Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) Vice President GK Zhimomi informed that 43 PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) delegates, including 4 women from Nagaland will be casting their votes. 

“Voting for @INCIndia Presidential Election will take place tomorrow (17th Oct) from 10 AM till 4 PM at Congress Bhavan, Kohima. 43 PCC Delegates, that includes 4 Women Delegates from @INCNagaland will be privileged to cast their vote in electing new Congress President,” (sic) he tweeted. 

Zhimomi, who is also a delegate to the All India Congress Committee, said that there is no ‘consensus’ candidate among the members from the State and everyone would be voting according to one’s conscience. 

Otherwise, it won’t be a secret ballot and an election, the pre-requisites for democracy, he maintained, when The Morung Express queried on the NPCC’s choice of candidate, Sunday evening.    

“It will be a free and fair election,” the NPCC President K Therie stated, affirming Zhimomi’s assertion, when contacted later.    

After the elections all the ballot boxes will be brought to the AICC headquarters and counting starts on October 19. The result will be declared as soon as the counting gets over. As per the IANS news agency, ahead of the counting of votes, all the ballot papers will be mixed so that no one would know how many votes the candidate got from a particular state.

The Congress General Secretary in-charge Jairam Ramesh, party leader also informed in a tweet that Rahul Gandhi, currently on the Bharat Jodo Yatra campsite in Karnataka will vote from Sanganakallu, Ballari.

The outgoing interim president, Sonia Gandhi as well as former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will cast their vote at the party headquarters in New Delhi.

The last Congress presidential election was held in 2000, when Sonia Gandhi defeated Jitendra Prasada to become the party president.