It’s Kharge vs Shashi Tharoor

The contest for Congress' presidential poll was narrowed down yesterday to a straight square-off between Shashi Tharoor and Mallikarjun Kharge after the rejection of the nomination paper of third candidate  K N Tripathi.

The three had filed nominations on Friday, the last day to submit nominations.

The party's Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry told reporters in New Delhi that Tripathi's form was rejected as the signature of one of his proposers did not match and another proposer's signature was repeated.

Compared to Kharge and Tharoor, Tripathi was a light-weight candidate.

Kharge, a Dalit leader from the southern state of Karnataka, has emerged as the clear favourite to be the party chief in the October 17 poll.

A day after filing his nomination, Kharge resigned as the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha in line with the Congress' declared 'One person, One post' principle that was announced at the party's brainstorming session in Udaipur in May.

Senior party leader Jairam Ramesh said on Friday that he does not the  know if poll would be held on October 17 as the last date for withdrawal of nominations is on October 8.

Kharge and Tharoor are contrasting figures with starkly different political trajectories in the Congress.

Kharge, who joined the Congress in 1969, has risen from grassroots and is a known loyalist of the Gandhi family while Tharoor, articulate and erudite, joined the Congress in 2009 and is considered a lateral entry into the party.