Rahul Gandhi named Congress president

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was on Monday elevated as party president, as the deadline for the withdrawal of nomination for election to the post of party chief passed.

Congress MP and the party's Central Election Authority chairman Mullappally Ramachandran announced that Rahul had been elected to the post unopposed.

He told reporters on Monday afternoon: "89 nomination proposals were received. All were valid. Since there was only one candidate, I hereby declare Rahul Gandhi elected as the president of the Indian National Congress."

This is in line with what Congress leader Janardhan Dwivedi had told reporters on December 2: "If only one nomination is filed, it will be announced on the date of withdrawal of nominations that he is the president since there is no other nomination."

Though Rahul's elevation as Congress president was announced on Monday, Rahul will officially take over the reins of the Congress from his mother Sonia Gandhi on December 16.

Rahul Gandhi's official elevation — one of the most-awaited political events in recent times — will come two days before the announcement of results of the Gujarat Assembly elections.

Rahul's nomination had earlier faced some opposition from fellow Congress leader from Maharashtra Shehzad Poonawalla, who had said that he would like to run for the post of the party president.

Besides claiming that the Congress had insulted him, Poonawalla stated that the election to the top post is being treated like a "family business", where the post will be handed down to the family through generations.

Rahul's elevation is being considered as a precursor to he being announced as the Congress' prime ministerial candidate for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.