NEW DELHI: Former Union Minister Manish Tewari is gearing up to run for president of the Congress, sources privy to the matter said. He was in his district to meet with state party delegates, who will cast their votes in the election. Each candidate must have the support of 10 members of the Pradesh Congress committee in order to be nominated.

Tewari has called for changes in the party and is one of the most outspoken opponents of the Congress leadership. If Tewari throws his name into the hat, there is now a chance that the event might have multiple winners. On Thursday, the federal election body for the Congress announced polling information.

The letter states that although the nomination forms will be accessible starting on Thursday, nominations must be submitted between September 24 and September 30.

On October 1, nominations will be scrutinised, and that same day, a list of eligible candidates will be revealed. After the deadline of October 8 for withdrawals, a final list will be released. While voting takes place on October 17, counting happens on October 19.

Ashok Gehlot and Shashi Tharoor are set to run against one other in the midst of intense political lobbying, and on Wednesday, Suresh Pachauri also met with Sonia Gandhi in addition to Mukul Wasnik and Pawan Bansal.

After spending two hours with Sonia Gandhi, the interim leader of the Congress, Ashok Gehlot reached Kerala to join Rahul Gandhi's "Bharat Jodo Yatra."  Source said, Sonia Gandhi has declared that the election will be fair and that she will not support any one candidate. Although there is no official statement on it, it appears that the Rajasthan problem was also covered in the meeting.

Gehlot is expected to submit his presidential nomination papers the next week.   However, he is reluctant to leave the Chief Minister's post in the state.

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Shashi Tharoor in Congress office to check delegate list, Gehlot in Delhi