Team News Riveting
New Delhi, October 1
The Congress presidential poll would witness a direct contest between Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor.
The papers of the third candidate K N Tripathi, former Jharkhand MLA of the party, was rejected on Saturday during the scrutiny, leaving the two southern stalwarts in the fray. While Kharge comes from Karnataka, Shashi is Congress Member of Parliament from Kerala.
Amidst flurry of political activities, three candidates had filed nominations for the Congress chief election, which, if required, will be held on October 17. The Congress presidential poll is held after 22 years. In the last election, Sonia Gandhi defeated late Jitendra Prasad.
Kharge is tipped to be the next Congress president as he is reported to be an official nominee of the Gandhis. He will be the first non-Gandhi to head Congress in 24 years after Sitaram Kesri, who demitted office in 1998 when Sonia Gandhi came into politics and became the longest serving party chief.
Tharoor has announced he won’t withdraw even as his own G-23 colleagues on Friday called for consensus and backed Kharge. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 8.
The party’s central election authority chairman, Madhusudan Mistry said a total of 20 forms were received during the nomination process. Four were rejected as signatures were repeated or did not match, he said. While Kharge submitted 14 forms, Tharoor submitted five and Tripathi one.
