Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge swept the party’s high-stakes presidential polls on Wednesday, paving the way for him to become the Congress’ first non-Gandhi president in over two decades. While Kharge received 7,897 of the total 9,385 votes, his opponent, Shashi Tharoor, trailed behind with 1,072 votes. Kharge will replace interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, who has been occupying the post ever since Rahul Gandhi stepped down after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Congratulating Kharge on his victory, Tharoor said he believed “the revival of the party begins today”. “It is a great honour and a huge responsibility to be President of the INC and I wish Kharge ji all success in the task,” he tweeted.
Earlier today, party leader Rahul Gandhi, in what appeared to be a slip of tongue, responded to a question referring to Kharge as the new Congress president. Meanwhile, on the eve of counting day, the Tharoor camp approached the election authority alleging that there were certain irregularities that took place during the election. The Tharoor camp is said to have claimed that there were irregularities in three states, including Uttar Pradesh, which has the largest number of PCC delegates. They alleged that in Uttar Pradesh ballot boxes were not sealed after polling was over, as per the guidelines issued by the authority.