Congress Presidential Polls: It’s Mallikarjun Kharge vs Shashi Tharoor today, here’s your five-point guide to election process

New Delhi: Senior Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor will face-off in an electoral contest on Monday for the post of AICC chief, as the party gets set to have a non-Gandhi president in more than 24 years. The voting will be done between 10 am and 4 pm on Monday, the results will be declared on October 19.

"The delegates from all states will vote at their respective polling stations with a `tick` mark for the candidate they support. Arrangements have been made for smooth polling," said Central Election Authority Chairman of Congress Madhusudan Mistry.

"Ballot boxes will reach Delhi on Oct 18 & counting of votes will be done on October 19. Polling booth set up at AICC as well, where over 50 people will vote. The whole polling process will be fair & free, no doubt about that,` he added.

Here is your five-point guide to the Congress election process:

- Over 9,000 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates form the electoral college to pick the party chief in a secret ballot.

- Voting would take place at the AICC headquarters here and at over 65 polling booths across the country in an electoral contest which is taking place for the sixth time in the party's 137-year history. Apart from the Congress headquarters in the states, the voting facilities will also be available at the party`s central headquarters at 24 Akbar Road. 

- While party chief Sonia Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are expected to vote at the AICC headquarters in the national capital, Rahul Gandhi will be voting at the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' campsite. A polling station is being set up at the Sanganakallu campsite in Bellary. 

- The two contestants Shashi Tharoor and Mallikarjun Kharge will cast their votes in their respective state`s headquarters Trivendram and Bengaluru. After voting, the ballot boxes from all the states will be brought back to Delhi, where the results will be announced after the counting of votes on October 19. 

- Notably, Kharge is considered the firm favourite for his perceived proximity to the Gandhis and backing by senior leaders, even as Tharoor has pitched himself as the candidate of change.

Sonia Gandhi is the longest-serving president of the party, having held the office for over twenty years from 1998 to 2017 and since 2019. This time no member of the Gandhi family is contesting for the post of President.

It is not the first time that a non-Gandhi leader is contesting for the party presidency post-Independence, Jitendra Prasad contested for the post of President about 22 years ago against Sonia Gandhi in which Sonia emerged as a winner holding the mantle of the party for 20 years.

(With agency inputs)