Rahul Gandhi was unanimously elected as president in 2017. However, following the party's poor performance in the
2019 Indian general election, Gandhi resigned.
Sonia Gandhi was selected by the party's
presidium as the interim president. Sonia Gandhi is Rahul Gandhi's
mother, and was the party's longest serving president from 1998 to 2017. There was also election held in
1997, Sitaram Kesari defeated Sharad Pawar. It was reported by news outlets that
Rahul Gandhi was not likely to contest the election. It was confirmed by Congress spokesperson
Jairam Ramesh that Rahul Gandhi would not file nomination for the election. Rahul Gandhi told
Ashok Gehlot that no member of the
Gandhi family should be the next President.
Prior elections The last party leadership election was held in 2017, which Rahul Gandhi won unanimously. The last contested election was held in 2000, when Sonia Gandhi defeated
Jitendra Prasada by a huge margin of 97%. She had been repeatedly selected for the position without any election being held.
Nomination On 19 September 2022, it was reported that
Shashi Tharoor and
Ashok Gehlot were interested in running for the post. Both Tharoor and Ashok officially confirmed on 24 September that they would be running for the post. Gehlot and Tharoor confirmed they would file their nominations in the coming days. During the same day
Sonia Gandhi met
Anand Sharma a prominent leader of the
G-23 on the discussion of the post and
Himachal Pradesh Election. In the following days various reports emerged that
Digvijaya Singh was looking to compete for the post and has started collecting signatures from party members for his nominations. During the process for nominations, multiple Congress MPs flew to Delhi to support various candidates. On 29 September, Digvijaya Singh officially announced he would be contesting for the post and that he would file his papers on 30 September. Post Gehlot announcing his intentions to run for the post, multiple MLA in Rajasthan expressed dissatisfaction. Concerns over the government power in Rajasthan grew within the party, with pro-Gehlot MLAs planning on submitting resignations if
Sachin Pilot were to become the CM. On 29 September, Gehlot met with Congress president Sonia Gandhi for an hour long meeting, post meeting Gehlot confirmed he will no longer be contesting for the post. Later reports emerged that former Jharkhand MLA, K. N. Tripathi was looking to enter the race which was confirmed few hours later. On 30 September, Shashi Tharoor and K. N. Tripathi officially filed their nomination for the post while Digvijaya Singh pulled out on the last minute. After various meetings from 28 to 30 September, several senior leaders decided to support
Mallikarjun Kharge for the post. Singh and Gehlot who pulled out from the contest earlier announced they will be extending their support to Kharge, whereas Tripathi's nomination was rejected by the AICC Central Election Authority. == Schedule ==