Manish Tewari preparing to contest Congress president poll

Former Union Minister Manish Tewari is also preparing to contest the Congress presidential poll, sources close to him said adding that he was in his constituency to meet the state party delegates who are the voters in the election.

Every candidate requires 10 Pradesh Congress committee delegates to propose his/her name for the candidature.

Tewari is one of the vocal critics of the Congress leadership and has demanded reforms in the party. However, there are now chances that there could be a multi-cornered contest if Tewari throws in the hat.

Also read: Stage set for Gehlot vs Tharoor as Congress issues notification for AICC president polls

The Congress' central election authority on Thursday issued notification for the Congress president polls.

According to the notification, while the nomination forms will be available from Thursday, the filing of nominations will be held between September 24 and 30.

Scrutiny of nomination will take place on October 1, and the same day, a valid candidate list will be published. The last date of withdrawal is October 8 following which, a final list will be brought out. While the poll will be held on October 17, counting will take place on October 19.

Amid hectic political lobbying, there is a likely contest between Ashok Gehlot and Shashi Tharoor, while Suresh Pachauri also met Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday, besides Mukul Wasnik and Pawan Bansal.

Ashok Gehlot had met Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi and the meeting lasted for two hours, after which he left for Kerala to join Rahul Gandhi's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'.

Sources said that Sonia Gandhi has asserted that the poll will be fair and she will not endorse any candidate. Apparently, the issue of Rajasthan was also discussed in the meeting but there is no official word on it.

Gehlot is tipped to file his nomination next week for the party president's post. However, he is reluctant to leave the Chief Minister's chair in the state.