All India Congress Committee General Secretary Madhusudan Mistry has emerged as the new pointsman in the organisation. While he is heading the team of Lok Sabha observers who have been appointed to report on the state of preparedness of the party for the LS polls, he himself is travelling to various states to get a first hand account of how prepared the Pradesh Congress Committee is to contest the coming election.
The poster war between Congress Vadodara candidate Madhusudan Mistry and the Bharatiya Janata Party refuses to die down as the saffron party has now demanded that the expenses of the exhibits carrying photos of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi with him should be included in his personal expenditure.
The Vadodara police on Thursday detained Congress candidate against Narendra Modi, Madhusudan Mistry, and other party workers when they tried to paste his posters on his rival's banners at advertisement kiosks in Dandiya Bazaar area.
Tharoor reached the AICC headquarters in New Delhi and spoke to Mistry at his office, a day before the Congress' central election authority is to issue the notification for the polls to elect the next Congress president.
Filing of nominations for the post of Congress president is scheduled to begin on Saturday with a contest between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former Union minister Shashi Tharoor on the cards.
The Congress's central election authority has issued a directive that all AICC general secretaries, state in-charges, secretaries and joint secretaries would cast their vote in the party's presidential polls either at their home state or at the party headquarters in New Delhi and not in their assigned state.
The Congress presidential polls will be held by a secret ballot and no one will get to know who voted for whom, the party's central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry said on Wednesday, asserting that a level-playing field has been ensured for both candidates.
Ignoring controversies surrounding him over Adarsh housing scam, the Congress has decided to field ex-Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan for the Lok Sabha polls and has fielded Madhusudan Mistry, a close aide of party vice president Rahul Gandhi to take on Narendra Modi in Vadodara. Anita Katyal reports
Tharoor's close aide Aalim Javeri collected the forms from the office of the party's central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry on the first day of the start of the nomination process, all but confirming an electoral face-off for the top party post with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Rahul Gandhi's sister may finally break her self-imposed ban on political life, reports Sheela Bhatt.
The Day in Politics: Featuring Dr Singh, Messrs Kejriwal and Sisodia and Mamatadi.
Nomination forms for the post of Congress president poll have been collected by Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor and All India Congress Committee (AICC) treasurer Pawan Bansal, but Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has not done so yet, the party's central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry said on Tuesday.
Amid suspense over who could take on Shashi Tharoor in the Congress president polls, party's central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry on Tuesday said AICC treasurer Pawan Kumar Bansal has got nomination forms collected, adding that it may be for someone else.
Sonia will likely be assisted by two vice presidents: Ashok Gehlot in charge of party affairs in north India with probably P Chidambaram doing likewise for south India.
Congress leaders Madhusudan Mistry and Nagma were detained on Saturday when they were on their way to Moradabad to hold a 'peace march'.
Madhusudan Mistry, Congress general secretary, spoke to in an exclusive interview to rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt as soon as Congress crossed majority mark in Karnataka. At the end of the interview, Mistry insisted that his criticism of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi should be carried as it is.
Tewari's consideration to contest comes amid the reports of several party top leaders being in the fray.
A total of 20 forms were received during the nomination process. Four of them were rejected as signatures were repeated or did not match, he said.
Madhusudan Mistry, who once worked as a mason in Ahmedabad earning Rs 2 daily, now shares the credit for the Congress's handsome victory in Karnataka.
The last electoral contest for the top post of the party took place in 2000 when Jitendra Prasada had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Sonia Gandhi.
Sharma claimed he has received complaints that neither any virtual nor any physical meeting was held to finalise the electoral rolls, the sources said.
In instructions for polling issued on Saturday, Congress central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry had said Pradesh Congress Committee members 'will mark '1' on the ballot paper against the name of the candidate and fold the ballot paper to put it into the ballot box'.
Eighty-nine Lok Sabha seats spread over seven states and two Union Territories will go to polls in the seventh phase on Wednesday.
The battle for Uttar Pradesh will now be fought by two Gujarat leaders for their respective parties, reports Saroj Nagi
With only weeks to go before the state assembly elections, the Congress's Karnataka unit is desperately trying to hush up its perpetually squabbling leaders. Senior Congress leaders like Siddaramaiah and Dr Parameshwar have directly appealed to their party workers to fight the elections in a united manner, but they are in no mood to listen.
By nominating Madhusudan Mistry, Digvijaya Singh, Kumari Selja as the party's Rajya Sabha candidates, and roping in Sanjay Singh, the Congress vice-president has failed to walk the talk, argues Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.
There's a quiet before the storm within the ruling party. Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com.
In a move signalling his larger role in the party, Rahul Gandhi was on Thursday made the head of the Congress coordination committee for 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
The Congress has appointed observers to coordinate meetings of its legislature party in four states where assembly election results will be declared on Sunday.
Counting of votes began on Wednesday in the Congress presidential polls in which senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor faced-off for the post of All India Congress Committee (AICC) chief.
Most senior leaders were not present at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi on the day of the outcome of poll results in five states. The leaders present at the headquarters stayed glued to television sets throughout the day, analysing results
Launching our new Election Gupshup series: Congress pulls out its Brahmastra to dent the Modi mystique.
Congress observers for Rajasthan on Tuesday recommended disciplinary action against three key loyalists of Ashok Gehlot but did not seek any action against the chief minister, as the party scampered to resolve the crisis that has cast a shadow on the election of the party president.
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has written to the party's central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry seeking the publication of electoral rolls for the upcoming election to the post of All India Congress Committee president, sources said.
A non-Gandhi is set to become the Congress president after 24 years.
Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa of the Akali Dal said the Sikh boy had tried to stop four hooligans from eve teasing. The miscreants caught hold of the Sikh boy, cut his hair and insulted him.
Chairman of central election authority Madhusudan Mistri will be available in Congress headquarters in the national capital to take the nomination papers as returning officer of the election.
The Congress on Sunday announced that elections for its president will be held on October 17 with the winner being declared two days later, asserting that it is the only party in the country which undertakes such a democratic exercise.
Tharoor's campaign team has also raised 'serious issues' in the conduct of the election in Punjab and Telangana.
Gaurav Gogoi will head the screening committee for Rajasthan with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot included among the ex-officio members of the panel.
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