NEW DELHI: Mallikarjun Kharge, who has secured the support of most PCCs despite not being named an official candidate, and Shashi Tharoor, who has received increased support from the youth, will compete with each other in the Congress president election on Monday. No matter who wins, it will be two and a half decades later that someone from outside the Gandhi family will become president. Meanwhile, it is not yet clear who has the support of the Gandhi family.

There are 9,308 voters. Polling will be held from 10 am to 4 pm at state PCC headquarters and AICC headquarters in Delhi. There are 67 booths in 36 polling stations. Ballot boxes will be flown to Delhi after polling. The counting of votes is on Wednesday.

The campaign ended on Sunday. Although Kharge is certain to win, it will be interesting how many votes Tharoor manages to secure. The Kharge side estimates that Tharoor will not get more than 300 votes. But Tharoor's hope is the vote of the youth who stand for a change in the party.

Rahul to vote in Bellary

Rahul Gandhi and more than 40 other members will be voting in the Bharat Jodo Yatra's campsite in Sanganakallu, Bellary in Karnataka. Leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Priyanka Gandhi will be at the AICC headquarters.

Changed in voting method, tick instead of '1'

Following Shashi Tharoor's complaint, the Central Election Committee has changed the method of voting. Earlier it was suggested the vote should be registered by writing '1' against the candidate's name in the ballot. It has been changed to a tick mark. Tharoor had alleged that writing '1' would cause confusion and it looks like a message to vote for Kharge whose name is first on the ballot.

Here's how the election is held

• It is a secret ballot. Names of Kharge come first and Tharoor second in alphabetical order
• ID cards with special QR codes for voters
• Voters' fingers will be inked with a marker pen
• Ballot papers are mixed and counted so that it is not clear how many votes the candidates received from each state.