AICC central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry on Saturday announced that former Jharkhand minister KN Tripathi's nomination for the Congress's presidential poll was rejected as the signature of one of his proposers did not match and another proposer's signature was repeated, setting up a contest between party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor.
Tripathi, Kharge and Tharoor filed their nominations on Friday, the last day of the process.
At a press conference at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi, Mistry said a total of 20 forms were received during the nomination process and four of them were rejected. While Kharge submitted 14 forms, Tharoor submitted five and Tripathi one.
“Total of 20 forms were submitted. Of those, the scrutiny committee rejected four forms due to signature issues. There is time till October 8 for withdrawal. The picture would be clearer after that. If no one withdraws, the voting process will begin,” Mistry said.