Congress President election: It is Shashi Tharoor vs Mallikarjun Kharge

Voting has started across all Congress headquarters of states, as Shashi Tharoor and Mallikarjun Kharge battle it out in the election for post of Congress party President. This is also going to be the first time in 24 years that no member of the Gandhi family is contesting for the top most post of the party. The last contest for the party president was conducted in November 2000, when Sonia Gandhi had won by a huge margin against her rival Jitendra Prasada.

A polling booth has been set up at the party headquarters for Congress Working Committee members and special arrangements have been made for the delegates who are part of the Bharat Jodo Yatra with voting to end by 4 p.m.

Both, the Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor and party veterean Mallikarjun Kharge have consistently reiterated that it is time for “non-involvement of the Gandhis”. But Mr. Tharoor has specifically pointed to what he called “difference in treatment, bias and an uneven playing field”, that was up until now.

Congress Presidential candidate Shashi Tharoor has expressed his confidence in winning the election but has also acknowledged the odds against him. “I am 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,” Mr. Tharoor told media at Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram where he has casted his vote.

Congress Presidential candidate Mallikarjun Kharge has casted his vote in Bengaluru. Mr. Kharge 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.”

Congress leader and former president of All India Congress Committee (AICC) Rahul Gandhi is leading “Bharat Jodo Yatra” for the last one month. He will be casting his vote for the election at a booth established in Sanganakallu in Ballari district on Monday.