NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge has been appointed as the new president of the Congress party.
“I hereby declare Mallikarjun Kharge as the elected president of Congress,” said Madhusudan Mistry, chairman of the Congress party’s CEC.
Results of the polling of Congress presidential election that was held on October 17 was declared on Wednesday (October 19).
Former union ministers Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor were in the fray for the top post of the Congress party.
Notably, this is for the first time in 24 years that the Congress party has got a president who does not belong to the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Mallikarjun Kharge won the Congress presidential election by a whopping margin of over 6000 votes against his rival Shashi Tharoor.
Kharge won the Congress presidential election with 7897 votes.
On the other hand, Shashi Tharoor secured about 1000 votes; 416 votes were rejected.
Meanwhile, Shashi Tharoor has wished the newly elected Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge all success.
“We are the only political party in the country that holds elections, we are also the only party that has the election commission inside it,” senior Congress leader and former president of the party – Rahul Gandhi said.