Alongside Kharge, Tharoor, former J’khand minister KN Tripathi files nomination for Congress presidential bid

New Delhi: Former Jharkhand minister KN Tripathi on Friday submitted his nomination papers for the Congress chief’s election along with veteran politician and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor.

Tripathi handed over the nomination papers to Madhusudan Mistry, chairman of the Congress’ Central Election Authority, at the AICC headquarters in the national capital. Besides the former Jharkhand minister, former Union minister Shashi Tharoor also filed his nomination papers for the election of the Congress president.

Earlier, Tripathi has served as the national president of the Congress-affiliated Indian National Trade Union Congress (Tripathi faction).

With Kharge emerging as the clear favourite, chances are slim that the flamboyant Tharoor and lesser known Tripathi stand a chance to make it to the top post. The Congress is set to get a non-Gandhi as the president of the party after at least 22 years.

Congress old-timers like Ashok Gehlot, Digvijaya Singh, Pramod Tiwari, PL Punia, AK Antony, Pawan Kumar Bansal and Mukul Wasnik have all supported Kharge for the top job after Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and Digvijay chief both backed out of the race on the last day of filing nominations.

Eighty-year-old Kharge, flanked by top Congress leaders, filed several sets of nomination papers with the proposers including members from the G-23 like Anand Sharma, Prithviraj Chavan, Manish Tewari and Bhupinder Hooda.

Tharoor, who was also part of the G-23 group, filed five sets of nomination papers, while former Jharkhand minister Tripathi filed a single set of poll papers with Madhusudan Mistry, the chairman of the Congress’s Central Election Authority. Tharoor, a former diplomat, described his electoral opponent Kharge as the ‘Bhishma Pitamah’ of the party.

No one from the Gandhi family was present at the AICC headquarters when the leaders filed their nominations for the election to the party president’s post.

Friday was the last day for filing nomination papers. Over 9,100 delegates are eligible to cast their votes in the October 17 election. The result will be announced on October 19.

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