Tharoor backers: 2 ex- union ministers, G-23 leader among 60 signatories

Former Union ministers Mohsina Kidwai, Saifuddin Soz, four MPs and G-23 leader Sandeep Dikshit are among those who signed the nomination forms in support of Shashi Tharoor's candidacy for the post of Congress president.

Tharoor posted six forms on Twitter though he could submit only five on Friday as he was late by a few minutes in submitting the sixth form.

Also, it was not known if all his five forms were admitted as Congress' central election authority chief Madhusudan Mistry said on Saturday that out of the total 20 nomination forms, four were rejected.

While one rejected form was of former Jharkhand minister K N Tripathi, Mistry refused to divulge who had filed the other three forms that were rejected.

Party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Tharoor are now left in the fray.

While Kharge had submitted 14 forms, Tharoor submitted five and Tripathi one.

According to the six forms posted by Tharoor on Twitter that had the signatures of 60 Pradesh Congress Committee delegates (10 each on six forms), 10 delegates from Jammu and Kashmir and 10 delegates from Nagaland have backed Tharoor.

Among the prominent leaders who supported Tharoor were former Union ministers Soz, Kidwai, four MPs

Karti Chidambaram, Pradyut Bordoloi, M K Raghavan and Mohammad Jawaid and Sandeep Dikshit.

Dikshit and Tharoor were among the group of 23 leaders who sent a letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in 2020 seeking large-scale organisational reforms.

Soz's son Salman Soz was also among Tharoor's supporters.

Interestingly, a majority of G-23 leaders have put their weight behind Kharge by becoming his proposers instead of backing Tharoor who was a prominent member of the grouping.

Attaching a screenshot of the six forms of support, Tharoor tweeted, "I present my 60 nominees. 12 states, all levels of leadership but all proud @INCIndia workers."

"I thank them & the thousands of workers they represent for the faith they have placed in me. Thanks, my Parliamentary colleagues, for yr unwavering support," he tweeted with the hashtag 'Think Tharoor Think Tomorrow'.

"Colleagues from far and wide, thank you for your support for my candidacy," Tharoor added.

According to a notification issued by the party on Thursday, the process for filing nominations for the election was from September 24 to 30.

The polling, if needed, will be held on October 17. The counting of votes will be taken up on October 19 and the results will be declared the same day.

More than 9,000 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates will vote in the poll.