Sonia Gandhi set to continue as Congress chief

The longest serving Congress party chief, Sonia Gandhi, is all set to be re-elected to the post as the last date of filing nominations for the top post of India’s ruling party elapsed on Wednesday with Gandhi being the only contender.

Her name for the party chief’s position was proposed by, among others, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and her son Rahul Gandhi, who is also a party general secretary and Member of Parliament.

Other leaders of the party, including chief ministers Sheila Dikshit of Delhi, Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan and Bhupinder Singh Hooda of Haryana, also proposed Gandhi’s name for the president’s post.

The Prime Minister and Union Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had met Gandhi, along with Rahul, to seek her consent for continuing in the president’s post.

The nominations were submitted to chairman of the party’s Central Election Authority, Oscar Fernandes, who is the returning officer for the poll.

Scrutiny of nominations will be held on September 3, last date of withdrawal is September 10, and date of polls, if necessary, is September 17.

Counting of votes will be held on September 21. This is also the schedule for the election of the PCC presidents in various states.

Electoral college for the Congress President’s election comprises 7,946 PCC delegates.

Gandhi is the longest serving Congress president after being elected to the post in April 1998, replacing late Sitaram Kesri.

She has been able to maintain an unopposed election streak to the top post, barring once about a decade ago when senior leader Jitendra Prasada had contested against her but was defeated.