NEW DELHI: The Congress party declared on Sunday that the election for its president would take place on October 17. The party claimed to be the only one in the nation to adhere to such a democratic process.

The final result will be announced on October 19. If only one candidate is left in the fray after the withdrawal of nominations, the winner will be announced on October 8 itself, the party's Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry said after a meeting of the Congress Working Committed. The party, which last had a contest for the post in November 2000, has often faced criticism from the BJP over dynastic politics due to the control of the Gandhi family over it.

Sonia Gandhi is the longest-serving party president and has been at the helm since 1998, except for the two years between 2017-19 when Rahul took over. Jitendra Prasada had lost to Sonia Gandhi in 2000 and prior to that Sitaram Kesri had defeated Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot in 1997. While many Gandhi loyalists have been pushing for Rahul Gandhi to return to the top post that he quit after the defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he is not keen on assuming the role and wants a non-Gandhi to be at the helm. Sources point out that Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is among the frontrunners to occupy the post.

The schedule of the election was approved unanimously at the online meeting of the CWC which took place under the shadow of the shock resignation of veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday and his stinging letter to the party president in which he lashed out at Rahul Gandhi for "demolishing the party's entire consultative mechanism."

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