Himalayan News Service

New Delhi, May 28:

Sonia Gandhi was today unanimously re-elected president of the Congress party that heads India’s ruling coalition. Congress Central Election Authority chairperson Oscar Fernandes announced the result. “I declare Sonia Gandhi duly elected unopposed president of the Indian National Congress,” he told party leaders on the lawns of the party’s headquarters on Akbar Road. Her candidature was proposed on Wednesday by almost 100 nominations including one by PM Manmohan Singh. In 2000, her candidature was challenged by the late Jitendra Prasada. Though Prasada lost the election, the move was unusual in the Congress party, which has always focussed on a single leader, mostly a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family. But Saturday saw a beaming young MP, Jatin, the late Prasada’s son, standing at the forefront of party leaders praising Gandhi’s “efficient leadership and democratic functioning”.