Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi Files his Nomination Papers for the party’s chief post Monday Dec 04,2017

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday Dec 04,2017 filed his nomination papers for the party’s chief post.

The 47-year-old Gandhi scion is likely to emerge as the lone candidate in the fray and decks have been cleared for his election as the Congress president, succeeding his mother Sonia Gandhi, who has held the post for 19 years in a row now.

Monday is the last date for filing nominations. No one else filed papers till Sunday, according to Mullapally Ramachandran, the chairman of the party’s Central Election Authority.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh are among the proposers for the candidature of Rahul Gandhi for the party chief’s post.

The last date for withdrawal of candidature is 11 December, and the poll, if necessary, will be held on 16 December and the counting will take place on 19 December.

How the Congress elects its president

The Congress Party’s constitution lays down an elaborate process of electing its President.

After the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the top executive body of the party, sets the election schedule, any ten delegates of the party may jointly propose any delegate’s name for the President’s post.

Article XII of the party’s constitution says, “All members of the Pradesh Congress Committees shall be delegates to the Indian National Congress.”

Like any general election, a window of seven days is given for withdrawal of nominations after names of all contestants are published.

In 2000, the then vice president of the Congress, Jitendra Prasad, had fought against Sonia Gandhi but had to bite the dust.

In case there’s only one candidate, he or she is declared President of the next Congress Plenary Session.