The Congress today elected Rahul Gandhi as its new president, a post which he will formally take over from his mother, Sonia Gandhi, two days before the crucial Gujarat Assembly election results are announced.
The 47-year-old Amethi MP, the sole candidate in the fray, is the fifth member of the Nehru-Gandhi family to hold the post after independence.
Announcing the result of the organisational poll, Congress's central election authority (CEA) chief Mullappally Ramachandran said Rahul Gandhi would formally collect the certificate of election as Congress president on December 16 at the AICC headquarters at Akbar Road here.
"Since the withdrawal of date/time is over and as there is only one candidate, as per Article XVII (d) of the Constitution of the Indian National Congress, I hereby declare Shri Rahul Gandhi elected as president of the Congress," Ramachandran said at a press conference.
A total of 89 valid nominations had been filed in favour of the party vice president.
"This is a historic occasion," said Ramachandran, flanked by CEA members Madhusudan Mistry and Bhubaneswar Kalita.
He said party leaders all joined hands in the electoral process because the country was going through a "very critical period".
"They all realised that this is a very critical period through which our country is passing. They knew that with a united approach we would be able to forge the party forward during the challenging days ahead," Ramachandran said.
The handing over of the certificate was scheduled to be held at 11 am on the lawns of the AICC office, he said.
Thanking Sonia Gandhi and party vice president Rahul Gandhi for supporting the electoral process, he recalled how the party president had given the election panel the mandate to hold a "free, fair and transparent election, keeping in view the high traditions and heritage" of the Congress.
Her only request to the panel, he said, was to ensure that women, weaker sections and the youth were given adequate representation in the internal election, which also chose delegates from the states who voted for the president.
Rahul Gandhi, he said, was a "stickler for rules" and was particular that the poll be conducted in accordance with the party's constitution.
The Nehru-Gandhi scion, who was made the party's vice president in January 2013, succeeds Sonia Gandhi, who took over as the chief in 1998. The first member of the family to head the party was his great-great grandfather, Motilal Nehru.
The family was at the helm of affairs of the party after independence for at least 38 years: Jawaharlal Nehru for more than three years, his daughter Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi for eight years each, and Sonia Gandhi for a record 19 years.
The CEA said 42 pradesh returning officers (PROs) were deployed, supported by 71 assistant PROs, followed by 583 district returning officers to ensure an "unbiased and impartial election".
Elections were held in more than 80 per cent of the 8,86,358 booth committees as six states - Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura, which were facing Assembly polls -- did not take part in the internal electoral process.
The results of the Gujarat and Himachal Assembly elections will be announced on December 18.
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