The election for the next President of the Congress party has been again postponed temporarily. The grand old party's central election authority had proposed June 23 as the date of poling.
The decision, party said, was taken unanimously in the meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) that met on May 10 under the leadership of interim president Sonia Gandhi. The meeting of the party’s highest decision-making body was called to deliberate party's performance in the recently-concluded assembly elections, COVID-19 situation in the country and election to pick the next party chief.
Party leaders said Sonia Gandhi was in favour of holding the elections but during the CWC meet, senior leaders including Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma insisted that there was no need for holding the election during the pandemic.
Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said in a virtual press conference that the CWC discussed the schedule of the Congress president’s election forwarded by central election authority. but all the CWC members were of the opinion that it is not the time to conduct internal elections. Therefore, the CWC has unanimously has adopted the resolution, he said.
“The CWC considered the election schedule for election the AICC president as proposed by the central election authority of the party. In view of nation-wide emergent condition prevailing in the country on account of COVID-19, the CWC was unanimous that all our energy should be channelized towards saving every life and helping every COVID-19 affected patient. CWC therefore unanimously resolved to defer the elections temporarily in the midst of challenging times,” Venugopal said reading from the resolution passed in the meet.
Earlier in her opening remarks to the CWC, Sonia Gandhi said the process for electing a Congress president would be completed by June end and that Venugopal had prepared a schedule, too. But, sources said, as the meeting progressed, many leaders opposed holding elections. They requested the CWC to defer the elections till COVID-19 situation is under control.
Election for Congress’ top post has been in turmoil ever since the party's debacle in 2019. Rahul Gandhi, who took over the post from mother Sonia Gandhi in 2017, stepped down after the 2019 defeat. The Congress has since failed to find a replacement and, thus, urged Sonia Gandhi to continue as the party’s interim chief.