Congress set to elect new president on October 17
The Congress Working Committee (CWC), the grand old party's top decision-making body, on Sunday approved the election schedule to pick the party's new president, as per officials. The election will take place on October 17, and the votes will be counted on October 19, they said. Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi presided over the Sunday meeting virtually as she is overseas for health check-ups.
Why does this story matter?
The CWC meeting came at a time when the Congress is reeling from the surprising departure of party veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday. In a letter to Gandhi, he slammed Rahul Gandhi for demolishing the party and ending its whole consultation mechanism, too. On Saturday, another prominent leader from Telangana, MA Khan, announced his resignation from the party.
What are other important election schedule dates?
According to officials, aspirants for the top post in the Congress can file their nominations between September 24 and 30. The election will be officially notified on September 22, and candidates will have until October 8 to withdraw their nominations, as per NDTV. To recall, the party announced last year that its new president will be elected between August 21 and September 20, 2022.
You can check the entire schedule here
Series of high-profile exits from Congress
Meanwhile, infighting continues to mar Congress, with several prominent politicians resigning one after the other. Jaiveer Shergill resigned from the party on Wednesday, claiming its decision-making is now dominated by "self-interests." Previously, Anand Sharma resigned as its Himachal Pradesh unit's steering committee head. In May, Kapil Sibal and Sunil Jakhar left the party. However, Azad's sudden exit is a big blow to the party.
