NEW DELHI: A high turnout of 96% marked the much-awaited clash between frontrunner veteran Mallikarjun Kharge and underdog Shashi Tharoor in the election for Congress president on Monday. The counting on Wednesday will give the party its first non-Gandhi chief after 24 years, the last being Sitaram Kesri, who passed on the crown to Sonia Gandhi in 1998.
When asked about the election which will end her tenure at the helm, Sonia said, “I have been waiting for a long time for this day.”
Sonia had passed on the baton to son Rahul Gandhi in late 2017. However, she was persuaded by the Congress Working Committee to again take the reins, this time as “interim president”, in mid-2019, after Rahul quit the top post following the party’s decimation in the Lok Sabha elections.

Voting was brisk across states. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sonia and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra cast their votes at the AICC headquarters. While Kharge voted in Bengaluru, Tharoor did so in Thiruvananthapuram.
‘100% turnout in poll for Congress chief in smaller states’
In elections held for the Congress president’s post on Monday, Rahul Gandhi, along with 50 other delegates participating in the Bharat Jodo Yatra, voted in a makeshift booth at Sanganakallu in Ballari, Karnataka.
The yatra, which began in Kanyakumari and is headed to Kashmir, observed a ‘rest day’ on Monday to enable delegates to vote.

AICC election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry said polling was around 100% in smaller states, while the overall turnout was 96%. Pranav Jha, election observer for UP, said the turnout was over 97% in the largest state, which has the highest number of delegates — 1,247 — in the country.
The total electoral college for the presidential election is around 9,900 state delegates, of whom 9,500 voted.
“No adverse incident was reported. This is a big achievement… polls were held in an open process in a peaceful manner,” Mistry said, adding, “Congress has shown what internal democracy is and other parties that want to take a lesson from it can do so.”
Kharge is considered the favourite in the race as he filed his papers at the request of the Congress leadership, after the party brass’s first choice for presidency, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, pulled out at the last minute over a controversy related to his state. While octogenarian Mallikarjun Kharge is the frontrunner, Tharoor ran a spirited campaign, touring states and pushing ahead despite being shunned by party managers.
He also made a big splash on social media by pitching himself as the candidate of change. However, Kharge has announced he will implement the Udaipur chintan shivir resolution, which will mark a big reform in the organisation’s functioning.
Shashi Tharoor defied calls from party functionaries to withdraw his candidature in favour of consensus, but he has since repeatedly stated that the clash was “friendly” and the party will be the winner irrespective of the outcome. Tharoor called Kharge in the morning ahead of voting. Kharge sent his “best wishes” to Tharoor.
He said he even spoke to him. “My best wishes to @ShashiTharoor. Both of us are contesting to strengthen @INCIndia to build a stronger and better nation for future generations,” he tweeted.