NEW DELHI: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will file his nomination papers for the party president's post on Monday.
Decks have been cleared for electing Rahul Gandhi as the new Congress president, succeeding his mother Sonia Gandhi, who has held the post for 19 years in a row now.
The Congress vice president is likely to reach the party headquarters around 10.30 am to file his nomination. He will sign sets of nomination papers to be filed before the Returning Officer.
The Congress set the ball rolling for the election of a new party president with the issue of poll notification on Saturday.
Rahul Gandhi is likely to emerge as the lone candidate in the fray.
The last date for withdrawal of candidature is December 11, and the poll, if necessary, will be held on December 16 and the counting will take place on December 19.
Six Chief Ministers -- Punjab's Amarinder Singh, Karnataka's Siddaramaiah, Himachal Pradesh's Virbhadra Singh, Puducherry's V. Narayanasamy, Meghalaya's Mukul Sangma and Mizoram's Lal Thanhawla -- are expected to be present when over 90 sets of nomination papers are likely to be filed by various leaders to extend support to Rahul Gandhi's candidature.
Rahul Gandhi became the Congres Vice President in January 2013.
Maharashtra Congress secretary Shehzad Poonawalla has called the process to elect party president as 'rigged'. Poonawalla has said Rahul Gandhi's elevation is a 'selection not an election'.
While addressing a rally in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday mocked at
the Congress over the upcoming election of its president.
He alleged the party had a history of rigging organisational polls.
The outcome of the election to the top post in the Congress was a foregone conclusion, Modi said while addressing a rally in Gujarats Surendranagar district.
"If you do not have democracy in your home (party) how can you practise it in the country," Modi asked.
