New Delhi: Setting at rest all speculations, the Congress on Sunday said that the polls to elect the new AICC (All India Congress Committee) President will take place on Oct. 17. The counting of votes will take place on Oct. 19, following which the new AICC President will be announced.

The party’s Election Committee will issue the notification for the polls on Sept. 22 and the filing of nomination papers will take place from Sept. 24 to 30. The scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on Oct. 1 and the last date for withdrawal of nomination papers is Oct. 8. However, if only one candidate files nomination by the end of the deadline, then the new AICC President will be announced the same day.

The nomination papers can be filed only at Delhi. There are about 9,000 Congress representatives who have voting rights and it is mandatory for the candidate to be present physically while filing nomination papers, according to the party’s Election Committee President Madhusudan Mistry. The election for AICC President post was last held in November 2000 when Sonia Gandhi was elected as the Congress Chief.