Exercise for Sonia's re-election as Cong chief starts today

The exercise for the election of Sonia Gandhi as the Congress President for a record fourth term will be set in motion on Friday.

The exercise for the election of Sonia Gandhi as the Congress President for a record fourth term will be set in motion today.

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The notification for the election to the post of Congress President is being issued on Friday and the last date for filing nominations is September 2.

As per the schedule for the election finalised recently at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), scrutiny of nominations will be held on September 3, last date of withdrawal is September 10, and date of polls, if necessary, is September 17.

Counting of votes will be held on September 21.

This is also the schedule for the election of the PCC presidents in various states.

Gandhi has created a record of having the longest tenure as Congress chief by steering the party since April 1998 when she replaced the late Sitaram Kesri.

Only once she had to face a contest with senior leader Jitendra Prasada throwing his hat in the ring a decade back but she had defeated him in the election.

Unanimous re-election of Gandhi, who is also the UPA Chairperson, is a foregone conclusion.

PCC delegates, who constitute a total of 7946, are the electoral collage for the Congress President's election, which is held in Delhi as also in state headquarters.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and several senior leaders and Union Ministers including Pranab Mukherjee as also PCC Presidents are expected to file nominations on Gandhi's behalf.

Senior party leader Oscar Fernandes is the chairman of the Central Election Authority of the party which oversees the organisational elections.