Cong president election: 'Have a fruitful tenure,' PM Modi congratulates Mallikarjun Kharge

Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath and senior party leader Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday congratulated Mallikarjun Kharge on getting elected as the new Congress president. Kharge defeated Shashi Tharoor in an electoral contest, the sixth in the party's 137-year-old history.

Congratulating Kharge, former MP chief minister Kamal Nath said, “I am sure that his vast experience will benefit the Congress organisation a lot and under his able leadership the party will not only scale new heights, it will also get strengthened further.”

Outgoing Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday visited party chief-elect Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence here soon after he was declared the winner and congratulated him. Gandhi was accompanied by Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra during their visit.

I will hold a press conference between 4-4:30 pm today: Mallikarjun Kharge, after getting elected as the President of the Indian National Congress

Will respond to letter, shouldn't have been given to press; should have come to us: Madhusudan Mistry on Shashi Tharoor team's complaint

"UP had 6 ballot boxes, of which 4 didn't have any issues. We got the seals of all ballot boxes checked by him (Shashi Tharoor) this morning. He stated, 2 ballot boxes did not have the embossed ballot box numbers," says Congress Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry

"Mallikarjun Kharge won with a huge majority; a win of democracy. I congratulated him. I have faith his experience will benefit the party. 9000 elected people elected the President, this was never done before by any party. Opposition must be nervous today," says Rajasthan Congress leader Sachin Pilot

I hereby declare Mallikarjun Kharge as the elected President of Congress: Madhusudan Mistry, Congress CEC Chairman

Mapanna Mallikarjun Kharge, a staunch Gandhi family loyalist from Karnataka, has become the Congress' first non-Gandhi president in 24 years.

The 80-year-old leader succeeds Sonia Gandhi at the grand old party's highest office.

Kharge defeated Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor in the October 17 Congress' presidential polls, which saw over 9,500 delegates across the country voting.

MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the president was the “supreme authority” in the Congress and whoever got elected to the post would decide on the way forward (for the party).

Responding to a query during his brief interaction with media during the Bharat Jodo Yatra here, Rahul Gandhi said the new president would decide on “what my role and how I will be deployed”.

“Obviously”, Rahul replied when asked if he would be reporting to the new president.

“President is the supreme authority in the Congress and everyone reports to him. My role… I am very clear… Congress president will decide what my role is and how I will be deployed,” he remarked.

At one point, Rahul said, “It is for Kharge to decide” but later corrected himself to “whoever gets elected, that gentleman will decide”.

Mallikarjun Kharge wins the Congress presidential elections with 7897 votes

Shashi Tharoor got about 1000 votes

416 votes were rejected 

Mallikarjun Kharge has won the Congress presidential elections with 7897 votes

Shashi Tharoor bagged nearly 1,000 votes.

Mallikarjun Kharge is the new Congress president

"We're the only political party in country that holds polls and has election commission. I've worked with Mistry Ji (Cong CEC chairman), he's straightforward. Issues will be addressed to EC,who'll take a decision," says Rahul Gandhi

"Everyone asks questions about polls in Congress. I'm proud that Congress has had open and transparent polls. Why is nobody interested in elections in other parties, including the BJP and other regional parties", asks Congress MP Rahul Gandhi

The counting of votes to elect a new Congress chief has begun. 

The counting of votes to elect a non-Gandhi Congress chief in 24 years will begin at 10 am today. 

Kharge is a grassroots politician and hardcore loyalist of the Gandhi family, while Tharoor, a social media pioneer and often outspoken, joined the Congress only in 2009 after a long stint at the United Nations.

Ahead of the polling, Kharge had said he would have no shame in taking the advice and support of the Gandhi family in running the party affairs if he becomes its president.

Tharoor, on his part, took a veiled dig at some senior leaders supporting Kharge, saying that some colleagues were "indulging in 'netagiri' and telling party workers that they know who Sonia Gandhi wants elected".

The current polls are historic as the new president would 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.

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

It was way back in 1939 when an electoral contest decided who would be the Congress president, and Mahatma Gandhi's candidate P Sitaramayya had lost to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Then in 1950 came the Congress' first post-Independence election for the post of party president when Purshottam Das Tandon and Acharya Kripalani faced off.

Surprisingly, Tandon, seen as a Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel loyalist, won the contest, trumping the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's choice.

In 1977, following the resignation of Dev Kant Barooah as party president in the wake of the defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, K Brahmananda Reddy defeated Siddhartha Shankar Ray and Karan Singh in the party's polls for AICC chief.

The next election that needed a contest came 20 years later in 1997 when Sitaram Kesri squared off in a triangular contest with Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot.

Except for Maharashtra and parts of Uttar Pradesh, all state Congress units had backed Kesri.

He posted a landslide victory, getting 6,224 delegates' votes against Pawar's 882 and Pilot's 354.

The fifth contest came in 2000 and this was the only time a Gandhi family member was challenged in the elections with Jitendra Prasada taking on Sonia Gandhi.

Prasada suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Gandhi, who garnered over 7,400 votes.

Prasada had reportedly polled a paltry 94 votes.

Of the total 9,915 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates that formed the electoral college to pick the party chief in a secret ballot, over 9,500 cast their ballot at PCC offices and the AICC headquarters.