Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 17: Voting for the Congress presidential elections, which has been described as the “beginning of the revival of the party,” ended with over 95 per cent of the Congress delegates casting their votes in the single-day polling on Monday.
The votes for electing the first non-Gandhi president in more than 20 years will be counted on Wednesday and the results declared by evening. While veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge is seen as the favourite, his opponent Shashi Tharoor said he was “confident” despite the odds.
Even as Tharoor alleged of some “bias” of the party leadership in favour of his rival, the party chief election officer, the chairman of the Congress’ Central Election Authority, Madhusudan Mistry, after the conclusion of the Congress president polls, said the elections were held in an open manner. Other political parties can learn lessons from it, said Mr. Mistry.
About the election, he said that there was no adverse incident during the polls. He said about 96% of the Pradesh Congress Committee delegates voted to elect the next party president. Of the 9915 delegates, about 9,500 exercised their mandate. In all, there were 36 polling centres across all the States and Union Territories, he said. Over 90% of voting was registered in all the States and UTs, he informed, adding that these are the provisional data and that the real figures will be out tomorrow.
Asked if he would get a clean sweep, as is being predicted by a section of Congress delegates, Mallikarjun Kharge said, “Whether it is a clean sweep or not will be known on the 19th (Wednesday, when the counting of votes takes place)”. “How can we predict now? If I say anything now, it shows that I have got too much ego,” he added.
“I’m confident. The fate of the Congress party is in the hands of party workers. The odds have been stacked against us as the party leaders and establishment were overwhelmingly with the other candidate,” Shashi Tharoor told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram, where he cast his vote.
While Mr Kharge received a rousing reception by the delegates in Chennai, Mr Tharoor’s welcome in his home state was lukewarm. Many of the senior leaders from Kerala have openly declared their support for Mr Kharge. Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, one the signatories to Mr Tharoor’s nomination, however, said “deliberate misinformation” has been spread about the candidate, who pitched for change. Even so, “Shashi will get significant votes, there will be a pleasant surprise,” he added.
The perception that Mr Kharge is the ‘approved’ candidate has set off speculation that he would act as proxy for the Gandhis. Mr Kharge has gone on record saying that he would take the help of the Gandhis when needed. He and Mr Tharoor have reiterated that the Gandhis are maintaining strict neutrality in the election.
Congress’s interim chief Sonia Gandhi, who cast her vote in the morning, said, “I have been waiting for a long time for this day”. Mrs Gandhi still remains chairperson of the party’s parliamentary board and Gaurav Gogoi, the party’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, has said Rahul Gandhi will remain the “face of the party for 2024 election.”
Tharoor said the revival of the grand old party has begun whatever the outcome and that the fate of the Indian National Congress lies in the hands of the party workers. Mr. Tharoor also said he had spoken to Kharge earlier in the day. “Today I spoke to Mr Kharge and said whatever has happened, we remain colleagues and friends,” he said. Kharge also said: “It is part of our internal election. Whatever we said to each other is on a friendly note. Together we have to build the party. (Shashi) Tharoor telephoned me and wished me luck and I also said the same.”
Many senior Congress leaders, however, said whosoever was elected the new president should not ignore the Gandhi family and the party workers’ attachment would remain with them. Speaking to reporters after casting her vote at the AICC headquarters here, senior leader Ambika Soni asserted that the Gandhi family cannot be ignored. “This effort to separate them (Gandhis) will never succeed. Talk about issues such as price rise, prices are soaring,” the former Union Minister told reporters.
Congress spokesperson and in-charge for Sikkim, Tripura and Nagaland Ajoy Kumar asserted that it was a historical moment as he slammed the BJP for its criticism of the AICC presidential polls. “None of us know how J P Nadda got selected, two-and-a-half people decided – one Modi, one Shah and a half RSS. So such a party commenting on polls is a joke,” he said.
The veteran leader P Chidambaram said the election of a new Congress president would not diminish the voice of the Gandhis. He also dismissed what he called the “assumption” that the Gandhis would retain the remote control even after a new Congress chief took charge.
“No one is saying the voice of the Gandhis will diminish,” Mr Chidambaram said. “The new President must listen to their views in the Congress Working Committee (CWC), parliamentary board and party forums,” he said.
Many are skeptical about any radical changes after a new chief takes over; Mr Kharge has already made it clear that he sees “no shame” in seeking the Gandhis’ advice and support. Mr Chidambaram was among those in the Congress who had pushed for organizational elections as a big step towards reforms to revive the party ahead of the 2024 national election.
For the first time in 24 years, no member of the Gandhi family is a candidate for the party’s top post. The last contest that the party witnessed was in November 2000, when Ms. Gandhi had defeated her rival Jitendra Prasada by a huge margin. Before that, in 1997, a triangular contest took place between Sitaram Kesri, Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot in which Kesri won.
Mrs Sonia Gandhi was handed the management of the party three months after Rahul Gandhi stepped down from the top post in 2019, accepting responsibility for the two consecutive routs of the Congress in general elections. He has consistently refused to reconsider his decision.
Mr Kharge joined the contest at the eleventh hour after a nudge from the central leadership when Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot dropped out. Mr Gehlot’s candidature went sideways following rebellion by his loyalist MLAs, who were trying to block his arch-rival Sachin Pilot from succeeding him as the next Chief Minister of Rajasthan.
Congress has mostly been led by a member of the Gandhi family, choosing them unanimously for terms of five years, except in 1937, 1950, 1997 and 2000, when elections were held since there was more than one candidate.
