New Delhi: The incumbent Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi is all set to be elected as the party chief for the fourth consecutive term.
The Congress Working Committee (CWC), the apex decision-making body of the party was to discuss the election schedule at its late Monday evening meeting.
Sonia's election to the coveted post is just a formality since there is no one around to file nomination against her.
Sonia has already created a record of being the longest serving Congress president having taken charge of the party in April 1998 while the party was going through a low after a string of electoral debacles.
She is credited for guiding the Congress party back to power in 2004 and helping it retain power in 2009 general election. She refused to become the prime minister in 2004 and instead nominated Manmohan Singh to the post and is considered the most powerful Indian.
Unlike the constitution of the rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which allows only one three-year term at one go to its presidents, there is no bar on how long an individual can retain at the helm according to the Congress party's constitution. The Congress president is elected every four years.
Except once when senior leader Jitendra Prasada, who served as political secretary while Sonia's husband Rajiv Gandhi was the party chief, no one has ever dared to oppose Sonia's candidature who is the fifth Congress president from the elite Gandhi-Nehru family seeing how isolated Prasada got within the Congress party even after his embarrassing defeat.
Incidentally, Sonia is the 59th president, seventh non-Indian, second foreign-born woman married to an Indian to head the 125-year-old Congress Party.
George Yule became the first non-Indian and overall the fourth president of the party in 1888, while Dr. Annie Besant, the fifth non-Indian and over all 27th president of the party became the first woman president of the party in 1927.
Nillie Sen Gupta, the sixth non-Indian president and overall 42nd individual to head the party, was born to British parents and married Jatindramohan Sen Gupta before settling down in India.
Likewise Sonia, born to Italian presidents, met Rajiv Gandhi while they studied in England and opted to settle down in India after their marriage.
Interestingly, while the Congress party has emerged stronger under Sonia, there are allegations that many democratic norms are being given a go by under her leadership on the name of convenience.
Members to the Congress Working Committee are no longer elected and the Congress president is authorised to nominate them to ensure an opponent does not get into the apex decision-making body of the party.
