Sonia Gandhi Re-elected Congress PresidentSonia Gandhi was re-elected president of the Congress Party in a national election conducted last Sunday, inflicting a humiliating defeat on her only rival Jitendra Prasada, who got a mere 94 votes out of a total of 7,700, it was officially announced .in New Delhi on November 15.Sonia Gandhi polled 7,448 votes while 229 were declared invalid, Oscar Fernandes, General Secretary of All-India Congress Committee told the media. Ram Niwas Mirdha, chairman of Congress Central Election Authority, a institution specially set up for the election, later formally announced the results in the present of Gandhi and several senior party leaders. The announcement was hailed by bursting of crackers by Gandhi's jubilant supporters who thronged the party headquarters in the capital in large numbers. In her brief acceptance speech, Sonia Gandhi thanked partymen for the victory and said that it was time to work unitedly to strengthen the party. However, this was the first time for the Hehru-Gandhi family to witness a challenge for this post with Sonia, who was nominated to the post by the Congress Working Committee (CWC) some two years ago after removal of former President Sitaram Kesri, who died last month. Prasada declared before the election that it was a "fight unto finish" as he wanted to restore inner party democracy in the party and charged Sonia Gandhi of being surrounded by a "coterie", appealing to delegates to "vote according to your conscience and keep the flag of inner-party democracy flying high". Almost immediately the results was announced, Prasada demanded a review of the entire process of organizational polls and elections of all leading members of the party in accordance with Congress constitution. However, he sent a letter to Sonia Gandhi congratulating her for the re-election as party president but, at the same time, he told reporters that he would continue his agenda to fight for inner-party democracy. |
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