Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 19: Mallikarjun Kharge was on Wednesday declared elected as the new Congress president defeating his sole rival Shashi Tharoor by 7,897 votes to 1,072 in a straight contest the polling for which was held on Monday.
The election of 80-year old Kharge, widely considered to be the “establishment candidate” enjoying the backing of the Gandhis, was expected but Tharoor was no wash out having secured the support of more than 1,000 Congress delegates, a rarity in such internal elections.
The first non-Gandhi Congress president in 24 years, Kharge is expected to take over as the Congress president from the interim president Sonia Gandhi after the coming Diwali vacation in the presence of senior party leaders. While Kharge polled lore than 84 per cent of the votes, Tharoor had a share of little over 11 per cent votes.
Making the formal announcement, Madhusudan Mistry, Chairman of the party’s Central Election Authority said: “As per the Article 18D of the constitution of the Indian National Congress, I, Madhusudan Mistry, hereby declare Shri Mallikarjun Kharge as the President of the Indian National Congress,” he announced.
Congratulating Kharge for his victory, Tharoor said the elections itself marked the beginning of the revival of the Congress party. He said the elections, irrespective of the outcome, had “ultimately strengthened the party.” “I look forward to working with Congress colleagues to face the challenges ahead. I believe the revival of our party has truly begun today,” Mr Tharoor said in a statement.
“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,” Tharoor tweeted.
“The decision of the party delegates is final and I accept it humbly. It is a privilege to be a member of a party that allows its workers to choose their president,” he said in a statement. “Our new president is a party colleague and senior who brings ample leadership and experience to the table. Under his guidance, I am confident that we can all collectively take the party to new heights,” he added.
He also thanked the outgoing interim president Sonia Gandhi for her contributions for the party. Praising Sonia Gandhi, Mr Tharoor said in his statement: “At this crucial time in the party’s history and for our collective future, we owe an irredeemable debt to our outgoing President, Sonia Gandhi, for her quarter century of leadership of the party and for being our anchor during our most crucial moments. Her decision to authorise this election process, which has given us new pathways to the future, is undoubtedly a fitting testament to her sagacity and vision for our party.”
Though the elections were deemed to be a friendly match, Tharoor fought the battle with all his might and did not take it lightly and despite promising all co-operation he and his supporters might at every corner try to force Kharge to introduce reforms in the party to take it out of the slumber it had been forced into following consecutive defeats it has suffered in the Parliamentary and state Assembly elections. Mr Kharge, who is close to the Gandhis, has promised reforms but few expect radical changes on his watch.
The election was bitterly fought to the last day with the Tharoor campaign raising concerns several times. Even on the eve of the counting, it wrote to Madhusudan Mistry, the head of the Congress’s election authority, pointing out “extremely serious irregularities” in the conduct of the election in Uttar Pradesh. The Tharoor campaign demanded that the votes from UP be deemed invalid.
Mr. Tharoor as well his election manager Salman Soz sought to downplay reports about his team complaining about the unfairness of the polling process. “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,” Mr Soz tweeted.
Mistry, while announcing the results of the elections, said the charges levelled in the letter by the Tharoor camp have “no basis” and asserted he will give a point-by-point reply to Tharoor. “It is more of a general complaint…it is not specific in nature…he should have told us personally,” he said. He hinted that it was the Tharoor camp which leaked the letter. “It is an internal matter. That he has made it public does not mean I have to make it (the response) public,” he said.
“Shri. Kharge’s victory in the Congress presidential election is a triumph for the forces who place ideological commitment over personal glory,” Congress communication chief Jairam Ramesh tweeted. “Kharge has always avoided flamboyance and has been the quintessential organisation man working in a self-effacing manner to advance the collective interests of the Congress party. He has the good wishes of all Congressmen and Congresswomen,” Mr. Ramesh added.
Since Independence, the Congress has mostly been led by a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family, who were elected unanimously. Elections were held only six times as there was more than one candidate – starting in 1939 when P Sitaramayya, backed by Mahatma Gandhi, lost to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
Although the composition and the numbers of the electoral college were different and there can be no comparison, Tharoor managed to garner more votes than Sharad Pawar when the latter contested against Sitaram Kesri in 1997.
The last time a contest took place for the Congress presidency was in 2000 when Jitendra Prasada faced off with Sonia. He was defeated by 7,448 votes to 94. In 1997, Kesri had defeated heavyweights Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot easily, with 6,224 votes against Pawar’s 882 and Pilot’s 354 respectively.
But strangely even before the official results were declared in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi had “announced” Kharge as the new Congress president at a press conference at Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh. Asked about his role in the new set up, Rahul Gandhi said, “I can’t comment on the Congress president’s role, that’s for Mr Kharge to comment on,” Rahul Gandhi said on the new president’s role while he remains the face of the party. “The president will decide what my role is and how I am to be deployed… that you have to ask Kharge ji and Sonia ji,” he said. He also said he would “report to” Mr Kharge, like every party member.
He followed up, “The final authority in the Congress party is the Congress president. And we will have a new Congress president. And that gentleman will decide exactly how the party moves forward,” he told media persons at least half an hour before the results were officially declared.
