The Indian National Congress Presidential Election was an interior party election that held to elect the next Congress President of the Indian National Congress. The date of the election was October 17, 2022. At the same time, the counting of votes took place on October 19, 2022. Being a strong competitor, Mallikarjun Kharge achieved success in the election, gathering 7,897 votes compared to Shashi Tharoor who gathered 1,702 votes.
The election activated by the resignation of Rahul Gandhi as party leader on August 10, 2019. However, the Party’s Presidium elected Sonia Gandhi as the short-term president. Due to the pandemic, the election date postponed until 2022. During the nomination, many reports came forward regarding the candidates looking forward to running for the post. Shashi Tharoor and Ashok Gehlot were interested in running the post. Meanwhile, Digvijay Singh was also interested and started collecting signatures from the party members for his nominations.
Election result
Mallikarjun Kharge, the veteran Party leader, elected as the President of the Congress party on October 19, 2022, that is, on Wednesday. He became the first Non-Gandhi to lead the party in two decades after votes counting in a nationwide election. Kharge defeated Shashi Tharoor in the election. Kharge became the sixth president in the party’s 137-year-old history. A counting agent for Tharoor named Karti Chidambaram announced the votes and stated that Kharge had won the polls with 7,897 votes and the MP of Kerala had secured 1,072 votes. Kharge is recognized as the Congress’s third Dalit Chief after D Sanjivaiah (1962) and Jagjivan Ram in December 1969. After five hours of counting ballots, Madhusudan Mistry, AICC election authority Chairman, declared Kharge got 7,897 votes out of the total 9,385 votes polled. Four hundred sixteen votes declared as invalid after scrutiny.
The Rivals: Shashi Tharoor Vs Mallikarjun Kharge
Predictably Mallikarjun Kharge, in the Congress Presidential Election, seized 7,897 votes compared to 1,072 votes of Shashi Tharoor. After the results declaration, when Rahul Gandhi was asked about his role to be in the congress party. He simply answered that now he is not concerned with the President role, that role is for Mallikarjun Kharge, and he will comment on that. And also Congress President will decide his role and how he should be settle in.
Kharge was the first Non-Gandhi to capture the Congress Presidency in two and a half decades. Kharge has a host of challenges in front of him. Maintaining the status in quo is simple; the huge challenge before Kharge is to convert the party to reconnect with the people and start winning the election. The new Congress President has the difficult task of maintaining his independence so that he is not observed as the agent of Gandhis. On the day of counting, a letter emerged in public from the team of Shashi Tharoor alleging malpractices and irregularities in Uttar Pradesh’s election for President of the Congress. However, the head of the authority, Madhusudan Mistry, denied all groundless charges. Further, he stated that he would provide a point-by-point reply to the agent of Shashi Tharoor.
Some of the Top points about Tharoor and Kharge: The Congress President Election
- Mallikarjun Kharge is generally a ‘Gandhi approval candidate’ who won 90 percent of the votes and got 7,897 votes against Shashi Tharoor, who got 1,072 votes.
- Rahul Gandhi announced Kharge as the winner before the election at a press conference in Karnataka.
- Tharoor alleged serious irregularities in the election process. Further agrees to continue the counting as they assured of a fair inquiry.
- The counting ended at 1 pm at the Congress headquarters in Delhi.
- Around 96 percent of the elected leaders have voted in the election.
- Mr. Tharoor and Mr. Kharge both cultivate that Gandhi’s are unbiased about the election.
- Mr. Kharge was a last-minute competitor whom the group leaders persuade when the Chief Minister of Rajasthan dropped out of the race.
Allegation of Shashi Tharoor over Impartial Election
Here are the major allegations which Tharoor camp forwarded in a letter:
- Lack of proper sealing mechanism for ballot boxes. The boxes sealed without white plastic tags with serial numbers. When these issues raise, the team get assurance that proper seal will be given later. The team also shared posts of unofficial seats used in ballot boxes in UP.
- Presence of three extra persons apart from polling staff. Those included Omveer Yadav, a proposer of Mallikarjun kharge, who was inside the polling area.
- Votes of delegates also cast who were not there in Lucknow on the polling day, the letter alleges. Many natural voters complain that they are unable to vote as their votes have cast already. While raising the matter, the other side’s supporters came and created a quarrel and threatened the polling agents.
- No polling summary sheets: AICC secretaries who were in charges of UP but belonged to different states were there in Lucknow at the headquarters of PCC and visiting different booths.
Kharge: The 6th Non-Gandhi Congress President
It is the sixth time in Congress, about 137 years old, that an electoral contest is deciding who would take up the responsibility of the Party’s President as the successor of Sonia Gandhi. Back in 1939, an electoral contest held to choose the Congress President where the candidate of Mahatma Gandhi, P Sitaramayya, had lost to Netaji Subash Chandra Bose. After that, in 1950 came congress’s first post-independence election for the post of President of the party when Purushottam Das Tandon and Acharya Kripali clashed. As Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel’s loyalist Tandon won the contest, outshining the choice of the then Prime Minster Jawaharlal Nehru.
The next election held 20 years later in 1997, when Sitaram Kesri defends in a triangular contest with Rajesh pilot and Sharad Pawar. All State Congress units except Maharashtra and parts of Uttar Pradesh have approved Kesri. He achieved a landslide victory gaining 6,224 votes against the Pilot’s 354 and Pawar’s 882.
The Fifth election came in 2000 when the Gandhi family challenged in the election with Jitendra Prasada encountering Sonia Gandhi. Prasad suffered a defeat at the hands of Mrs. Gandhi, who gathered over 7,400 votes. Mr. Prasada had collected a meagre of 94 votes.
The current polls are historic as the New President will replace Sonia Gandhi. Kharge is a politician and hardcore loyalist to the family of Gandhi, whereas Tharoor, a media pioneer, only joined the congress in 2009. Thus kharge won the election against Shashi Tharoor.
The Scope of the 2024 General Election Under his Presidency
On the one hand, Party democracy celebrated in the internal part. But there is a charge of external challenges to win. Can Kharge keep those challenges? He should have sharp political insight, a robust organizational structure, successful lead campaigns and sharp retorts, raising political heat on opponents, converting political message on votes and keeping enthusiasm among workers to keep the congress party on track. The biggest challenge for Kharge is maintaining his political order as he takes Modi challenge in 2024.
The one of the most biggest task of the Newly appointed President is to rejuvenate the Congress from inside. Prepare a ground level strategy where Party can emerge as it was in previous years. They should have come over the 2014 and 2019 and start planning for 2024 with fresh minds. The most interesting thing will be how he will manage Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in his tenure. Will he work independently or through remote control? All the answers will be available in the future.
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