Picture : Twitter/ ANI
Mallikarjun Kharge was elected the Congress president after defeating Shashi Tharoor in an electoral contest, the sixth in the party’s 137-year-old history and first in 24 years. The last was one was in 1998 when Sonia Gandhi beat Jitendra Prasada.
Congress’ central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry announced after the counting of votes that of the 9,385 votes polled in the Congress president poll, Kharge got 7,897 votes and Shashi Tharoor 1,072 votes, while 416 votes were declared invalid.
At a press conference at the AICC headquarters , Mistry declared Kharge elected as Congress president.
Tharoor later tweeted, “Called on our new President-elect Mallikarjun @kharge to congratulate him & offer him my full co-operation. @incIndia has been strengthened by our contest”
Called on our new President-elect Mallikarjun @kharge to congratulate him & offer him my full co-operation. @incIndia has been strengthened by our contest. pic.twitter.com/fwfk41T93q
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 19, 2022
Former president Rahul Gandhi tweeted congratulations to Kharge as he wrote
Congratulations to Mallikarjun Kharge ji on being elected as the President of @INCIndia.
The Congress President represents a democratic vision of India.
His vast experience and ideological commitment will serve the party well as he takes on this historic responsibility.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) October 19, 2022
