The Congress chose senior statesman Mallikarjun Kharge as its first non-Gandhi president in more than 20 years, with opponent Shashi Tharoor coming in a distant second. Kharge easily won the party vote.
Vote counting got underway on October 19 at 10 a.m. By early afternoon, Kharge had received 7,897 votes, while Tharoor had received 1,072. 416 of the 9,385 total votes were ruled to be invalid.
As soon as the results were revealed, celebrations started in front of the AICC offices. Dhols rang out, and Karnataka Congress politicians could be seen handing out candy.
The election is historic because the winner will succeed Sonia Gandhi, the longest-serving party leader, who has been in office since 1998, with the exception of the two years between 2017 and 2019 when Rahul Gandhi presided.
However, charges of anomalies plagued the Congress presidential election process. Salman Soz, a member of the Tharoor campaign team, claimed that they had brought up a number of concerns with the party’s central election authority (CEA) and had spoken with Madhusudan Mistry, the CEA chairman, before polling, on polling day, and after that.
Madhusudan Mistry, the chairman of the central electoral authority for the Congress party, praised the party’s open, fair, and transparent presidential election process.
Additionally, he stated that the vote was anonymous and that no one would find out who had supported whom.
News Mania Desk
