Congress to chose its next chief through secret ballot

New Delhi, July 27: The Congress is yet to find a replacement for Rahul Gandhi. However, now it has been decided that a secret ballot would be used to elect the new chief of the party at the Congress Working Committee meeting.

It has been decided that all members will need to shortlist four names and submit their choice. The final call would be then taken by Sonia Gandhi, who is the chairperson of the parliamentary party.

This would be a secret exercise and the most popular name will be discussed at the CWC meet. However no date has been fixed for the CWC meet as yet. The idea is to build a consensus on the most popular name. While selecting the names, the member is also expected to give his or her reasons for the same.

It has also been decided that the second most popular name would be made the working president of the party. The idea of a working president was mooted to prevent the complete concentration of power in one hand.

After the results of the Lok Sabha elections in May, Rahul Gandhi had stepped down as the chief of the Congress. The party has not found a replacement since then and Rahul Gandhi has been firm on his decision. He had also said that the party should be headed by a non-Gandhi.