New Delhi: Mallikarjun Kharge has won the Congress party’s internal presidential election, beating rival Shashi Tharoor 7,897 to 1,072 in terms of votes.
Tharoor released a statement soon after the results were announced, conveying his “warm congratulations” to Kharge and remarking that it is a privilege to be a part of the party .
It is a great honour & a huge responsibility to be President of @INCIndia &I wish @Kharge ji all success in that task. It was a privilege to have received the support of over a thousand colleagues,& to carry the hopes& aspirations of so many well-wishers of Congress across India. pic.twitter.com/NistXfQGN1
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 19, 2022
In his statement, Tharoor thanked all party members, laying special emphasis on the work of the karyakartas who helped conduct the elections. He also thanked interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi for “being our anchor in our most crucial moments” before thanking Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra and the Gandhi family as a whole.
While the results were only announced around 2 pm today (October 19), former party chief Rahul Gandhi may have let the result slip earlier.
When asked about his role in the party earlier today, Gandhi said that the party president is the supreme authority in the Congress and whoever gets elected will decide on the way forward.
“Please ask Kharge ji, Sonia ji,” Gandhi said in response to a question at a press conference in Andhra Pradesh, where the leader is currently leading the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra.
An apparent slip of the tongue, Gandhi’s remarks will only further fuel the rumours that Kharge is the party’s ‘unofficial official candidate’ in the party’s internal polls, votes for which were still being counted when he made the remarks.
The party’s high command has consistently denied the allegations, although Kharge’s rival in the polls, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, has been outspoken about the fact that the elections were not being fought on a level playing field.
Earlier in the day, Tharoor alleged “serious irregularities” in the election process in Uttar Pradesh and sought for votes from the state to be cancelled.
Salman Soz, chief election agent, wrote a letter on Tharoor’s behalf to the chairman of the party’s chief election authority, Madhusan Mistry, soon after the counting of votes began today, alleging that the election process in the northern state is “devoid of credibility and integrity”, according to a report in NDTV.
Among the issues raised by Soz were ‘unofficial’ seals being used for ballot boxes; ‘unofficial’ individuals being present in polling booths; votes being cast by Congress delegates who weren’t present on the day; and the lack of a polling summary sheet.
In the letter, Soz also underlined that Tharoor’s camp was not alleging that his rival contestant, Mallikarjun Kharge, had any knowledge of the impropriety, writing, “We are certain that if he were aware, he would never allow what happened in Uttar Pradesh.”
Subsequently, Soz issued a clarification on Twitter, noting that the chief election authority of the Congress assured Tharoor’s camp of a fair inquiry and as such, the latter agreed for counting to proceed.
In light of complaints from our UP team yesterday, we wrote to @INCIndia’s CEA immediately, a standard practice.
Subsequent discussions with the CEA have assured us of a fair inquiry. We have agreed for the counting to continue and our team looks forward to the results.— Salman Anees Soz (@SalmanSoz) October 19, 2022
The party set to receive its first non-Gandhi president for the first time in over 24 years. Counting of votes began at around 10 am today and by evening, it will be known which of the two contestants – Tharoor or Kharge – will take the reins of the party from interim party chief Sonia Gandhi.
Voting took place on Monday, October 17, and saw over 9,500 votes cast out of the total 9,915 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates who make up the electoral college for the election of the party president.
In the 137-year history of the ‘Grand Old Party’, this will only be the sixth time that the party’s chief is chosen through an election.
Also read: As Congress Presidential Poll Draws Closer, Tharoor Alleges ‘Lack Of Level Playing Field’
Kharge has widely been tipped as the favourite to win the post in the run up to the elections, with buzz about him being the Gandhis’ ‘official candidate’, although these allegations have been denied by leaders across party ranks.
Tharoor, meanwhile, has been pitching himself as the candidate for change.
Tharoor has also alleged the lack of a “level playing field” in the elections, referring to the stark differences in Congress leader turnout during the electoral campaigns of the two contestants. The Wire had earlier reported how only a fraction of delegates of PCCs had turned up to listen to Tharoor’s addresses as compared to Kharge’s in a number of states, including Delhi and Tamil Nadu.
“We have seen this at several PCC offices. When Kharge goes, all the senior leaders are present, delegates come in large numbers. Delegates are told by the state leaders to be present. This never happened in my case. This is why I am saying there is no level playing field,” Tharoor alleged after meeting delegates in Delhi, according to The Telegraph.
However, he stopped short of assigning blame to any person, attributing it to the fact that the party was holding the elections after such a long time.
The winner of the election will replace Sonia Gandhi from the top post, who has been serving as the party’s interim chief since 2019 when Rahul Gandhi stepped down as party president, taking “moral responsibility” for the Congress’s handed defeat in that years Lok Sabha elections.
Note: This article is being updated as more news breaks. First published at 12:00 pm, it was republished at 1:45 pm.