Shashi Tharoor Calls for 'Free & Fair' Polls To Elect Congress President

Tharoor is also reportedly contemplating whether he should contest the poll for Congress president.

Shashi Tharoor.

(Photo: Facebook/Shashi Tharoor)

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor called for a "free and fair" election to the post of the party president and said that ideally elections should have been called for the dozen seats in the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and other high-level bodies.

In an article for Malayalam daily 'Mathrubhumi', the Thiruvananthapuram MP said, "Allowing members of the party drawn from the AICC and PCC delegates to determine who will lead the party from these key positions, would have helped legitimise the incoming set of leaders and give them a credible mandate to lead the party."

However, he said that electing a fresh president would be a start towards the "revitalisation the Congress needs badly."

Tharoor is one of the members of the G-23 group, which had called for reforms in the party in a letter to interim president Sonia Gandhi.

Tharoor for Congress President?

Tharoor is also contemplating whether he should contest the election to the post of Congress president, news agency PTI reported sources as saying.

They also said that he had not yet made up his mind about contesting but would take a call soon.

When asked whether he would file his nomination for the polls, Tharoor said, "I have no comment to make. I accept what I've written in my article - which is that an election would be a good thing for Congress party," news agency ANI reported.

The former Union minister said that the election would have other benefits as well, citing the example of the "global interest" in the British Conservative Party polls.

He said that replicating a similar situation in the Congress would increase the national interest in the party and galvanise more voters towards it.

"For this reason, I hope that several candidates come forward to present themselves for consideration. Putting forward their visions for the party and the nation will surely stir public interest,” Tharoor said.

Commenting on the resignation of party veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad, the leader wrote, "The exit of valued colleagues does not help. I personally regret these departures, because I would have wanted these friends to stay in the party and continue to fight to reform it," he said.

The Congress had on Sunday announced that elections to the post of president will be held on 17 October, and the result will be declared on 19 October.

The filing of nominations would begin on 24 September and will continue till the end of the month.

AICC general secretary KC Venugopal had said at a press conference that anybody in the party can contest the poll.

(With inputs from PTI and ANI.)