No surprises here: Mallikarjun Kharge is the new Cong chief

New Delhi, Oct 19: Veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge was elected president of the Congress Party on Wednesday, the first non-Gandhi to head the party in two decades. Kharge has garnered support of 7,897 out of a total 9,385 voters. While Tharoor got about 1000 votes and 416 votes were rejected.

Kharge is a hardcore loyalist of the Gandhi family. He has played multiple roles in different ministries that has enriched his experience as an administrator.

His opponent Shashi Tharoor conceded defeat and wished all success to Kharge.

"It is a great honour and a huge responsibility to be President of Congress and I wish Khargeji 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," tweeted Tharoor.

Team Shashi Tharoor today alleged extremely serious irregularities in conduct of election Congress president polls in Uttar Pradesh and demanded "that all votes from UP be deemed invalid".

"Our campaign wants to bring to your attention extremely serious irregularities in the conduct of the election in the state of Uttar Pradesh. As you will see, the facts are damning and the election process in UP is devoid of credibility and integrity," the letter said.

The counting of votes to elect new Congress president began at 10 am at the party headquarters in Delhi, ended around 1 pm.

It is the sixth time in Congress' nearly 137-year-old history that an electoral contest decided who would take up the mantle of the party's president as successor to Sonia Gandhi.

The polls are historic as Kharge would now replace Sonia Gandhi, the longest-serving party president who has been at the helm since 1998, barring the two years between 2017 and 2019 when Rahul Gandhi had taken over.

The Nehru-Gandhi family has been at the helm of the party for about 40 years since Independence. The five family members to take on the mantle of the Congress president included Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi.