No 'official' candidate in poll to elect Congress president, clarifies election committee chairman

Congress Central Election Committee chairman Madhusudan Mistry told reporters on Friday that the three candidates who have filed nominations for the post of the president of the party, namely Mallikarjun Kharge, Shashi Tharoor and KN Tripathi from Jharkhand Congress, filed nominations in their individual capacity. The nominations will be scrutinised on Saturday and the last date for withdrawal is Tuesday, October 4.

He informed that 14 nominations were filed on behalf of Mallikarjun Kharge, five on behalf of Shashi Tharoor and one on behalf of KN Tripathi.

Madhusudan Mistry made it clear that none of the three candidates is an official nominee as described in a section of the media. By Saturday evening the scrutiny will be completed, he added, and the final list of candidates confirmed.

After the scrutiny and withdrawal of nominations, if more than one candidate remains in the fray, then voting will be held on October 17, in which around nine thousand delegates from party units across the country will vote. He said that arrangements can be made for postal ballots for those delegates who are taking part in the Bharat Jodo Yatra.