Indian Congress Got its First Non-Gandhi President

New Delhi: Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday won the party’s high-stakes presidential election, 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 supplant break Congress boss Sonia Gandhi, who has been possessing this post since the resignation of Rahul Gandhi after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

As the results turned out to be clear, Tharoor congratulated Kharge and thanked the delegates who supported him. “It is a great honor and a huge responsibility to be President of the Indian National Congress and I wish Mallikarjun Kharge all success in that task. It was a privilege to have received the support of over a thousand colleagues, and to carry the hopes and aspirations of so many well-wishers of Congress across India,” he said in a Twitter post.

Earlier today, party leader Rahul Gandhi, answered a question alluding to Kharge as the new Congress president which appeared to be a slip of tongue. During a press conference in Andhra Pradesh, when a reporter asked about his new role in the party, Gandhi replied, “I can’t comment on Congress President’s role, that’s for Kharge Ji (party’s Presidential candidate) to comment on. The President will decide what my role is…” Meanwhile, on the eve of counting day, the Tharoor camp approached the election authority alleging that certain anomalies took place during the election. The Tharoor camp is said to have claimed that there were anomalies in three states, including Uttar Pradesh, which has the largest number of PCC delegates.

Congress leader Pramod Tiwari has announced that Mallikarjun Kharge has won the Congress presidential elections. As per Tiwari, “Mallikarjun Kharge wins the Congress presidential elections with 7897 votes, Shashi Tharoor got about 1000 votes. Kharge has won with 8 times more votes.”