New Delhi
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Saturday got the nomination form for the AICC presidential poll collected from the party headquarters here with sources saying he is likely to file his papers on September 30.
Tharoor’s close aide Aalim Javeri collected the forms from the office of the party’s central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry on the first day of the start of the nomination process, all but confirming an electoral face-off for the top party post with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
The nomination form is likely to be filed by Tharoor on the last day of the nomination process on September 30 as the idea is to collect nomination-endorsing signatures from across the country, sources told.
A total of 10 Pradesh Congress Committee delegates are needed to endorse a candidate.
After over two decades, the Congress is set to see a contest for the post of party chief with Gehlot, who has announced his candidature, expected to take on Tharoor. Tharoor on Monday had met Sonia Gandhi and expressed his intention to contest the poll. The Congress president conveyed she would stay neutral in the elections, according to sources. Sonia Gandhi had welcomed the idea of more people contesting the poll and dispelled the notion that there would be an official candidate .
According to a notification issued by the party on Thursday, the process for filing nominations for the election will be held from September 24 to 30.
