New Delhi: Congress Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry on Monday said that the party has “once again proved what internal democracy is” and “other parties can take lessons from it”.
Addressing a press conference after the conclusion of voting for the party’s presidential election, Mistry said about 9,500 delegates cast their votes.
He said the polling was held through secret ballot and nobody can pinpoint who has voted for which candidate.
The contest is between former union ministers Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor and it is after 24 years that Congress will have a party chief from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family.
“By and large, 96 per cent voting took place across states. 9,500 delegates cast their vote today. Hundred per cent voting took place in the small states with 25 or 30 votes. This is provisional data. The entire data will be out soon. No untoward incident occurred in any of the polling booths. It is an achievement for us,” he said.
Mistry said the entire polling took place “peacefully and democratically”.
“Those who say there is no democracy in the party, it is an example of democracy. Congress has once again proved what internal democracy is. The other parties can take lessons from it,” he said.
He said that 50 delegates have voted in the Bharat Jodo Yatra which is in the Karnataka leg of the 150-day march.
“Three ballot boxes have been received- 87 people voted at AICC, Delhi. Fifty people have voted in the yatra. Rahul Gandhi also cast his vote. There is no need to have any doubt. It is a secret ballot, nobody can pinpoint who has voted for which candidate,” he said.
Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi was among those who cast their ballot.
“I have been waiting for a long time,” Sonia Gandhi told the media after she cast her vote at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accompanied her mother Sonia Gandhi and cast her vote.
The counting of votes will take place on October 19.
