New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS) Congress president Sonia Gandhi is Sep 21 expected to be formally elected for her fourth term in office, with the Congress Working Committee (CWC) Monday deciding the schedule for the election. The meeting also discussed the situation in Kashmir.
The CWC meeting, attended by Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was briefed by Home Minister P. Chidambaram about the developments in Jammu and Kashmir.
The meeting also observed a minute’s silence and passed a condolence resolution for people who lost their lives in the Leh cloudburst and rail accidents.
There has been a rise in rail accidents this year in the ministry headed by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.
Congress general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said after the meeting that Chidambaram was specially invited to the meeting to brief the members about the situation in Kashmir.
He said the members expressed concern over the situation in the state and pointed out that infiltration attempts and terrorist activity was continuing. They also expressed concern over the attempts to misguide the youth of the state.
The members said that the government should take all steps necessary to normalize the situation including for resumption of dialogue process.
Party sources said the CWC spent considerable time of the over one-hour long meeting discussing Kashmir. The Congress is part of the alliance headed by the National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir and sections in the party have been insisting that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah make more concerted efforts to reach out to the people.
Dwivedi said that the process to elect a new Congress chief would be notified Aug 27 and the last date of filing nominations is Sep 2. The scrutiny of nominations will take place Sep 3 and the list of candidates will be published the same day.
The last date of withdrawal is Sep 10 and the final list of candidates will also be published the same day.
The date of polling, if necessary, is Sep 17 and the counting of votes and declaration of results will take place Sep 21. The election of state presidents will also take place on Aug 17.
The party had started the process of organizational elections at the beginning of this year after a membership drive. According to schedule declared earlier, the process of polls was to be completed by July. However, it was delayed as some states had not elected Pradesh Congress Committee delegates who constitute the electoral college for the election of Congress president.
Dwivedi said that over seven lakh booth committees had been constituted and the process has been almost completed.
Party general secretaries Digvijay Sing and Rahul Gandhi were not present at the CWC meeting.
The total membership of the Congress at 2,90,17,894 is less than the previous figure. Party leaders attribute it to the stricter norms governing enrolment and a few states not having gone through the process of membership.
Sonia Gandhi first became Congress president in 1998 and is the longest serving president of the party.
The last organizational polls in the party were held in 2005 which were followed by a plenary in 2006.
Party sources said that it will be Gandhi’s fourth election as party president.
The term of party president is three years from the date of plenary.
