New Delhi, May 10 (IANS): The Congress Working Committee has postponed the presidential polls of the party due to the surge in Covid-19 cases.

In the CWC meet held on Monday, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot demanded the postponement of the election which was supported by senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad who was the prime mover to demand elections in the organization in August last year.

The party's Central Election Authority headed by Madhusudan Mistry will draw up a new schedule after the pandemic subsides.

The Congress Working Committee in January had decided that the party will go for organisational polls after the elections in five states are over.

General Secretary (Organisations) K.C. Venugopal had said on January 22 after a crucial Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting that the Congress will have an 'elected' party President by June. Venugopal had said then: "The CWC discussed the organisational elections slated to be held in May. But CWC members unanimously requested interim chief Sonia Gandhi that the party elections should not interfere with Assembly polls in several states in the coming months."

The decision to hold the elections for the party presidentship was taken after group of leaders wrote to Sonia Gandhi and demanded for a more visible and permanent president for the party after Rahul Gandhi stepped down as president following the party's defeat in the 2019 general elections.

The rift in the Congress between the dissenting leaders (G-23) and Team Rahul Gandhi was out in the open since the leaders met in solidarity with Ghulam Nabi Azad in February and the exclusion of these leaders from the Congress campaigners list in the five state elections.