Election of new Congress chief after Gujarat schedule

New Delhi, Oct 23: The Congress Working Committee (CWC) is likely to decide the date of election of the new party president after the poll schedule for Gujarat is announced. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi is set to be elevated to the top post in the election.

Congress sources said that the party's organisational election process to elect a new president will need a window of about 15 days and the period has to be chosen in a way that it does not interfere with the campaign for assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.

Himachal Pradesh will go to the polls on November 9 and the election schedule for Gujarat is yet to be announced by the Election Commission. 

While there is a possibility of Rahul Gandhi getting elevated in the second week of next month after the Himachal Pradesh elections, it could also stretch further with the election process taking place after the Gujarat polls.

Congress leaders expect that the party will give a good fight to the Bharatiya Janata Party in both the Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat assembly polls and a favourable result in both states or at least in Gujarat will considerably shore up the political capital of Rahul Gandhi. 

The Congress has already completed the organisational election process in the states and the schedule for election of the Congress president has to be cleared by the CWC, the highest decision making body. 

Party leaders have made it clear that Rahul Gandhi will be elevated as the new party chief at the culmination of the organisational elections.