Congress Leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor's representative collects nomination paper for AICC president elections

While sending a request letter for his nomination as party president, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has requested five sets of nomination papers from the chairman of party's Central Election Authority, Madhusaran Mistry.

Former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and Congress leader, Digvijaya Singh announced on Friday that he will not contest the election. With his exit, Shashi Tharoor and Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot are now the only two contenders for the post of Congress party president.

After two decades, the Congress party has announced the party chief elections, as notified by the Central Election Authority on Thursday. The new elected candidate will be successor to Sonia Gandhi, who has been the longest-serving chief of party. Earlier, Tharoor had expressed his intention to stand in the elections, to which she replied that she will stay "neutral" in these polls.

Sonia Gandhi was open to the idea of more candidates contesting the elections and dismissed the idea of there being an "official candidate". The nomination filing process will go on from 24th to 30th September, following which the nomination papers will be scrutinized on 1st October. The last date for taking the nominations back will be 8th October.