Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has appointed observers in four states – Rajasthan, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh – where results will be declared on Sunday, after a number of exit polls suggested close contests between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in these states.

While a letter from party general secretary KC Venugopal said that the observers have been appointed to “coordinate the meetings of the Congress Legislature Party”, two other leaders aware of the matter said that these observers will have a larger role after the polls.

In Rajasthan, the Congress has appointed former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, senior party leaders Madhusudan Mistry and Mukul Wasnik, and Shakeel Ahmed Khan.

In Telangana, the party chief has appointed Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar, Deepa Das Munshi, Ajoy Kumar, K Muraleedharan and K J George as observers.

For Chhattisgarh, Congress treasurer Ajay Maken, Ramesh Chennithala and Pritam Singh have been sent as AICC observers, while for Madhya Pradesh party leaders Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Prithviraj Chavan, Rajeev Shukla and Chandrakanth Handore have been deputed.

“The general secretaries and in-charges of the respective states will coordinate the same with above observers,” AICC general secretary KC Venugopal said in an order.