Next Congress president to be elected in October

Decks seem to have been cleared for the election of a new Congress President, Working Committee and the All India Congress Committee (AICC), with Congress announcing the schedule for organisational elections on Tuesday.

According to the schedule, the Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest decision-making body, will be elected in the last week of October during the plenary session of the party. The CWC will then elect the President and the Vice President.

Organisational elections in the Congress will be held for the first time after 2005. The Election Commission (EC) earlier this year had called upon the Congress to complete the process by June.

There has been speculation over the next Congress President ever since Sonia Gandhi, who has been President since 1998, expressed a desire to step down because of poor health. The suspense is now likely to end in a little over three months.

The schedule released by Madhusudan Mistry shows that the final list of members will be published in August.