Election to top post in Congress put off due to COVID-19

New Delhi, May 10: The Congress has put off the election of a new party president, citing COVID-19.

The election body of the party had recommended that the polls can take place on June 23. The Congress' central commission suggested June 7 as the deadline for the nominations. However the Congress Working Committee decided that election needs to be put off due to the pandemic.

The decision was a unanimous one, report had said. The party chief's post has been vacant since the poll debacle in 2019. After Rahul Gandhi stepped down, Sonia Gandhi took over as the interim chief of the party.

Rahul Gandhi who had taken over as the party chief in 2017 had stepped down in 2019 taking responsibility for the defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. He had suggested in a letter to party workers that a non-Gandhi must take up the post of party president.