The central election authority of the Congress on Thursday issued a notification for the All India Congress Committee president polls, reported PTI.

In the notification, Madhusudan Mistry, the chairperson of the Central Election Authority, said the process for filing of nominations for the election will be held between September 24 to September 30.

The election to decide the successor to the longest-serving party president Sonia Gandhi will take place on October 17 and the results will be announced two days later.

According to media reports, MP Shashi Tharoor and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot are contesting the polls. The party, however, has not made any official announcement about the contestants.

Meanwhile, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said on Thursday that he views the president’s post as an ideological one. “My advice [to the next Congress president] would be whoever becomes the chief should remember he represents a set of ideas, a belief system, the vision of India,” Gandhi said.

The MP from Kerala’s Wayanad also said that he supports the party’s “one man, one post” rule hinting that Gehlot may not get to remain the chief minister if elected as party president, reported NDTV.

“We have made a commitment in Udaipur, I expect that will be maintained,” Rahul Gandhi said at a Bharat Jodo Yatra press conference in Kerala. The party had adopted the “one man, one post” rule earlier in May during a three-day meeting in Udaipur, where internal reforms and elections were discussed.