With former Jharkhand minister KN Tripathi's nomination rejected for technical reasons, 80-year-old Mallikarjun Kharge and 66-year-old Shashi Tharoor are officially pitted against the Congress president.

While Mallikarjun Kharge is believed to be supported by the Gandhi family, Shashi Tharoor talks of change.

KN Tripathi's form was rejected as the signatures of one of his proposers did not match and the signatures of the other were duplicated.

Shashi Tharoor insisted, "This is not a war."

That is why we want an electoral college of over 9000 delegates to see Kharge as a symbol of status quo.

Tharoor's slogan is: 'Think tomorrow, think Tharoor'

Shashi Tharoor said, "Mallikarjun Kharge and I may belong to different schools of thought, but we are allies in the same party. Let the members decide. All I am saying to the members is that if you are concerned with the functioning of the party If you are satisfied, please vote for Kharge sahib. But if you want change, if you want the party to work differently, choose me."

He got into some trouble with the wrong map of India in his manifesto yesterday, which he apologetically corrected and there was no apparent loss of drive.

For those too lazy to read 13 pages, or just plain curious, well we tried our best to summarise @ShashiTharoor's Manifesto for @INCIndia in 45seconds!

Yep, we tried!

#ThinkTharoorThinkTomorrowhttps://t.co/lOFzAlXiDkpic.twitter.com/avxz4ZXpL2

— Shashi Tharoor For INC President (@PrezTharoorINC) September 30, 2022

Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday resigned as the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

A day later, over 30 leaders supported his candidature, in keeping with the Congress's 'one person, one post' rule.

Mallikarjun Kharge's candidature came as a surprise after Ashok Gehlot dropped out of the race, as his loyalists insisted that he remain the chief minister of Rajasthan.

Gehlot has also supported Kharge.

Shashi Tharoor is one of the members of the G-23 group, which were seen as rebels.

When he wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi demanding reforms in 2020, when she filed her nomination, she was not accompanied by many senior leaders.

It is not that he is a candidate of G-23.

Some people in that group are standing with Gandhi and Kharge, while some have left the party completely.

If a candidate withdraws his nomination, no election will be required.

The last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 8.

But it is not likely.

Kharge is everyone's prime choice and Shashi Tharoor is a contestant in this election.

Voting is on October 17 and the results will be out two days later.

In the last 20 years, elections are being held for the top post of the party for the first time after Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi held this post.

Sitaram Kesari was a non-Gandhi chief in 1998, who was replaced by Sonia Gandhi.

She eventually joined politics at a time when the Congress was struggling to hold itself together.

He handed over the president's post in 2017 to Rahul Gandhi, who resigned after the 2019 Lok Sabha loss.

Since then, he has been the interim chief.

While Rahul Gandhi remains the face of the party.

He is doing 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' to build the electoral momentum of 2024.

The Gandhi family is clearly trying to blunt the allegation of nepotism.