Congress Presidential Poll: 771 Of 797 Delegates From Maharashtra Cast Votes

A total of 771 of 797 delegates belonging to Maharashtra and Mumbai units of Congress on Monday cast their votes to elect the next president of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) between Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor.

The Maharashtra Congress unit recorded 96 percent voting and the Mumbai unit 97 percent voting, Congress functionaries said.

A total of 797 delegates of Congress from Maharashtra are eligible to cast their votes. Of them, 561 belong to the party's Maharashtra Pradesh unit and 236 are from the Mumbai unit.

A total of 542 of the 561 delegates belonging to the state Congress unit and 229 of the Mumbai unit cast their votes.

The polling began at the state Congress headquarters, Tilak Bhavan, in Mumbai at 10 am.

State Congress president Nana Patole and his predecessor Balasaheb Thorat were among the prominent leaders to cast their votes at Tilak Bhavan besides former chief ministers Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan, and Sushilkumar Shinde.

Congress delegates from Nagpur voted through postal ballot on the account of local body polls. Some party functionaries are on the party's poll duty in different states and they cast their votes from the locations where they are deputed, a functionary said.

The Congress' Mumbai unit is a separate entity. Of the total 237 delegates of the Mumbai Congress, 229 cast their votes. Seven others could not cast their votes due to personal commitments, while former Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam voted in Punjab as he is in the state for party work, the Mumbai Congress functionary said.

Top leaders of the Mumbai Congress who voted include its president Bhai Jagtap, former MP Milind Deora, Naseem Khan, Varsha Gaikwad, and Charan Singh Sapra.

(Inputs from PTI)