The election of the Congress President, proposed on June 23, stands postponed till the Covid-19 situation improves in the country. The decision was taken unanimously in an online meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Monday after Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot proposed the same and senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is head of the Group of 23 rebel leaders, seconded it.
Azad said no one in the party was seeking an election right now and thus the election as proposed by the central election authority (CEA) should be postponed. CEA chairman Madhusudan Mistry, a Gujarat leader, had drawn up the organisational election calendar which had slotted the election of the Congress President on June 23.
Postponement of the internal elections was obvious as Rahul Gandhi may not be in a position to head the party soon after the Congress debacle in the recent Assembly elections.
Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal told a press conference after the CWC meeting that party president Sonia Gandhi will constitute a review group within two days to examine the outcome of the Assembly results and give its report to the CWC at the earliest.