Former Jharkhand minister KN Tripathi’s nomination for the Congress presidential election was rejected on Saturday, leaving party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor in the fray. The three had filed nominations on Friday, the last day of the process. Addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters in Delhi, the party’s central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry said the panel met for scrutiny of forms on Saturday.

A total of 20 forms were received during the nomination process. Four of them were rejected as signatures were repeated or did not match, he said. While Kharge submitted 14 forms, Tharoor submitted five and Tripathi one. “Two candidates—Kharge and Tharoor—are in a direct contest now. One form of another candidate from Jharkhand has been rejected,” Mistry said.