Gandhis dominate discourse as Congress prez election ends

New Delhi: Congress members queued up across the country on Monday to elect their first non-Gandhi president in 24 years, choosing between senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor in an exercise aimed at putting the party on the path to revival.

"I have been waiting for a long time for this day," Congress chief Sonia Gandhi told reporters after voting at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters here. Over 9,000 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates form the electoral college cast their votes to pick the party chief in a secret ballot. The results will be declared on October 19. Voting in the much-discussed elections began at 10 am at the AICC headquarters and at polling booths in PCC offices across the country before ending in the evening.

"Satisfied with Congress' presidential poll process. Elections are free, fair, transparent," said Madhusudan Mistry, the central election authority chairperson. While Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, voted in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi, who is on the Bharat Jodo Yatra, did so at a meeting room container converted into a polling booth at the yatra campsite in Ballari in Karnataka.

Kharge, 80, a Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka tipped to win the election because of his proximity to the Gandhis, cast his ballot at the Karnataka Congress office in Bengaluru. His electoral rival, the party's 66-year-old Thiruvananthapuram MP Tharoor, who has pitched himself as the candidate of change, voted in the Kerala capital.

Kharge said in Bengaluru that Tharoor called him up and wished him good luck and he wished him the same. The two, he said on Twitter, were contesting internal polls on a friendly note to strengthen the Congress to build a stronger and better nation for future generations. In Thiruvananthapuram, Tharoor said he is confident of victory even though the odds were stacked against him as leaders and the establishment were with the other candidate. "India needs a strong Congress. I did not contest for my political future, but for that of the Congress and India. I am here as a viable alternative. I am standing for change. A change in how the party functions," he said.

"Spoke to Mallikarjun Kharge this morning to wish him well and to reaffirm my respect for him and our shared devotion to the success of Congress," Tharoor added in a tweet, noting that the Congress' revival had begun.

Earlier in the morning he said, "Some people play safe in order not to lose. But if you just play safe, you will definitely lose", using the hashtag "#ThinkTomorrowThinkTharoor". Electors in the Congress presidential polls have been asked to put a tick mark against their candidate in the ballot paper after Tharoor's team took up with the party's top poll body the issue of its earlier directive that voters write "1" to reflect their preference. This, the team said, may lead to confusion.

As the election process continued, the Gandhis dominated the discourse in many places. Senior leader Ambika Soni told reporters after voting that the Gandhi family cannot be ignored and the party workers' attachment with them would remain. "The Gandhi family will continue to play a very important role. Sonia Gandhi will be demitting her office after the new president is elected but there is no doubt that she has been our leader and will continue to be our leader. We will look towards her for inspiration and guidance from time to time," added Congress general secretary Mukul Wasnik said.