Process of electing new Congress chief set to gain momentum

New Delhi: The process of electing the new Congress president may gain momentum after the next meeting of the party’s Central Election Authority (CEA), which is likely to take place around next Tuesday, said people aware of the matter.

“The next CEA meeting would hopefully complete the process of updating the party delegates’ list (the electoral college that elects the party chief) and finalise, maybe in one more meeting, its report to the Congress Working Committee (CWC), conveying its logistical preparedness to conduct the party president’s election,” said an AICC functionary, who did not wish to be identified.

While considering the CEA’s report, the CWC can recommend a broad time frame for notifying the poll schedule and date of voting, if necessary. AICC has been looking at the possibility of having the new party chief by January-February and the AICC plenary session thereafter, said party members.

Many party leaders consider it significant that since last weekend Rahul Gandhi has been holding virtual meetings with Congress leaders of poll-bound states, “reaching out” and getting “proactive” in internal deliberations. This, incidentally, coincides with the demise of senior leader Ahmed Patel, who used to anchor many internal deliberations. They said the Gandhi scion was also stepping in to perform more duties, more so when the party chief is not in the pink of health.

Sonia Gandhi has been functioning as the interim party president since August 2019 following Rahul Gandhi’s resignation as party chief after the party’s debacle in the 2019 general election. The CEA exercise is taking place in the backdrop of chorus for Rahul’s return as party chief.
A section of change seekers in Congress has been seeking “election” to the post of party chief and CWC. Prior to his resignation, Rahul had been unanimously elected chief in December 2017 and he assumed office at an AICC plenary session three months thereafter.