More than 95% voting in Congress Presidential poll

New Delhi, Oct 17 : A total of 9,497 delegates voted in the Congress Presidential election held on Monday, out of which 87 delegates, including Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, cast their vote at the Congress headquarters here.

No irregularities of any kind have come to the fore, so far.

Madhusudan Mistry, Chairman of the Central Election Authority (CEA), told the media, "Out of the 9,915 delegates, 9,497 delegates have cast their votes. About 96 per cent of voting has taken place. One hundred per cent voting has been recorded at the smaller places while more than 90 per cent voting was recorded at the big polling centres."

Taking a jibe at other parties, Mistry said, "Those who talk of Congress' democracy should learn from us... our election has set an example."

Voting took place at 68 polling booths in 40 polling stations. The ballot boxes will be brought to Delhi and the counting of votes will take place on October 19, following which the Congress will get a new non-Gandhi President.

The last election was held in 2017, which Rahul Gandhi had won unanimously, whereas the last contested election was held in 2000 when Sonia Gandhi defeated Jitendra Prasada by a huge margin.

This is the sixth time that the Congress has held internal elections for the President's post in its 137-year old history.