A week before the Congress presidential elections, party leader Shezhad Poonawalla dropped a clanger by claiming the election was rigged. It was widely reported that Rahul Gandhi would be elevated to President's post unopposed in the next elections.
A week before the Congress presidential elections, party leader Shezhad Poonawalla dropped a clanger by claiming the election was rigged. It was widely reported that Rahul Gandhi would be elevated to President's post unopposed in the next elections.
He told Times Now that he had written to Rahul Gandhi’s office claiming the poll process was stacked in Gandhi’s favour.
In his emails, he has claimed that those delegated who form the panel aren’t elected secretly as per party rules but had been appointed by state presidents who owed their careers to the Gandhis.
He asked Gandhi to step down as Congress VP before contesting elections. He was quoted saying, “I want Rahul to be the Congress president not as a Gandhi but as Rahul."
Earlier he had tweeted: “Raising an issue nobody in my party - the Congress will have guts to raise- my conscience will not allow me to stay quiet anymore on Dynasty/ sychophancy (sic).”
He also tweeted to his brother Tehseen Poonawalla , who had castigated him on Twitter, saying: “A rigged election? Where one starts as VP, gets selected by hand-picked delegates selected by a bunch of selected state Presidents? Where 48pc candidates are dynasts? You serve the family - I will serve Mahatma Gandhi's party & India. Love u too. But not more than my country.”
Meanwhile, Tehseen Poonawalla wrote on Twitter that he was stunned and said he official gave up all 'relationship with him politically'.
Rahul Gandhi is expected to file nomination for the election to the Congress president's post on December 4, party sources said.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and ex-Union minister AK Antony are likely to propose his candidature.
The notification for the election will be issued on Friday. Nominations can be filed till December 4. Following scrutiny of nominations on December 5, the list of valid candidatures will be put out on the same day at 3:30 pm.
The last date of withdrawal of nomination for the election is December 11 and polling will take place on December 16 in case more than one candidate is in the race.
Counting of votes and declaration of results will take However, the sources said that no other contender is expected to challenge Gandhi.
"The Congress vice president is expected to file the nomination on the morning of December 4," a source said.
Meanwhile, forms were distributed today to state returning officials (PROs) appointed by the party for the organisational polls.
The forms will carry names of Pradesh Congress committee (PCC) delegates, who in turn will nominate the contender for the top post. The number of delegates to be nominated varies from state to state.
For example, a small state may have 10 delegates. Big states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra or Bihar may have 30-40 delegates.
"It is a foregone conclusion that each delegate will back Gandhi's nomination," another source said.
With inputs from PTI
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