New Delhi, 1/10: Former Jharkhand Minister K N Tripathi is out of the Congress presidential race after party’s election authority on Saturday rejected his nomination paper for irregularities. This has set the stage for a direct contest between senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor on October 17, if one of them do not withdraw from the contest.
Congress’ Central Election Authority chairperson Madhusudan Mistry and other members scrutinised 20 forms submitted by Kharge, Tharoor and Tripathi and found four of them defective for various reasons like repetition of proposers, using a xerox copy of nomination paper and mismatch in signatures
We have rejected the form of Tripathi. Kharge and Tharoor remain in the fray and there will be voting on October 17 if none of them withdraws by October 8, the last day for withdrawal of nominations,” Mistry told a press conference. If there is voting, the counting of votes will be on October 19.