Sonia Gandhi re-elected Congress chief, announcement today

That there is no challenge to Sonia Gandhi’s leadership of Congress was proved once again on Thursday when prime minister Manmohan Singh initiated the process for her re-election as party president for a record fourth term.

Singh, accompanied by his ministerial colleagues, reached 10 Janpath around noon and was the first man to propose her candidature. A second set of nomination papers was presented by Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, while a third was presented by Congress treasurer Motilal Vora.

The third set had the all-important signature of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, Sonia’s heir apparent. After that, big leaders from all states lined up in alphabetical order to present papers. “A total of 56 nomination papers, each proposed by 10 party men, were received. Only one paper was rejected as it fell short of the required number of proposers,” Oscar Fernandes, who heads the party’s election authority, said. He said the result of the election would be formally declared on Friday.

With this, Sonia, who was first elected president by the Congress working committee in 1998, will enter her fourth term.

She has already become the longest-serving Congress
president, overtaking Pandit Motilal Nehru, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. She is the only one to be the Congress chief for so long without becoming the prime minister.