Congress Working Committee sets June 2021 as deadline for electing new party chief

Setting a deadline for the Congress chief elections, party general secretary KC Venugopal on Friday, announced that there will be 'an elected Congress President by June 2021'. In the Congress working committee meeting chaired by Sonia Gandhi, the party passed resolutions on an array of issues like COVID-19 vaccination, economy, farmers protest etc. The CWC meeting also attended by some of the 'dissenters' saw tense exchanges between Ashok Gehlot and Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma. Reports state that many CMs pushed for elections after the upcoming elections in April-May - Assam, Bengal, Kerala, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu.

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Congress chief election by June

In the last Congress' Central Election Authority (CEA) meeting, updating party delegates’ list, logistical preparedness and time frame for notifying the poll schedule and date of voting were discussed, as per reports. Later interim-chief Sonia Gandhi held a meeting with 30 top leaders on the path ahead for the party in a "constructive" atmosphere, where the demand for Rahul Gandhi to take over the top post was raised, to which the ex-Congress chief said that it must be left to the electoral process. Sonia Gandhi has also meet some of the prominent members of the 'dissenters', who had written to her demanding an overhaul of the party, to talk about elections to the CWC after the party chief elections.

As per reports, CEA is drawing up a voters list of around 1500 AICC delegates and is planning to hold digital elections, marking a first. Though the election is for the Congress chief, similar to the 2017 elections, the term of the presidency will be only for 2 years. Recently, quashing all internal dissent, after a stormy Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, the grand-old party retained Sonia Gandhi as party chief passing a resolution strengthening the Gandhis' leadership and not allowing anyone to undermine the party or the Gandhis (Rahul and Sonia).

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Congress president saga

Congress has been in a leadership dilemma since Rahul Gandhi quit as party chief in the post-Lok Sabha 2019 debacle. This led to a barrage of resignations from posts like Milind Deora, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Priyanka Chaturvedi and many more. Amidst a lot of turmoil with Priyanka Vadra too being considered, Congress finally went back to their safe option- Sonia Gandhi. Then, 23 senior leaders sought 'structural changes', internal election to the CWC even at state levels, the formation of an Independent Election Authority, and institutional leadership mechanism, full-time leadership at the helm at the party. Since Rahul's exit, Congress has lost Madhya Pradesh's elected government, Bihar, Delhi, Haryana polls, barely managed to save Rajasthan, and won Jharkhand polls in alliance. It is also in an uneasy three-way government in Maharashtra with NCP and Shiv Sena, stitching a post-poll alliance.

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