Shashi Tharoor vs Mallikarjun Kharge: Congress leaders to pick new party president today, know result date

Senior Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor will be standing head to head in the battle for the Congress presidential post today, with thousands of party workers and leaders set to cast their votes for their preferred candidate.

The voting for the Congress presidential elections 2022 is all set to take place today at the party headquarters of all the states, where regional leaders will cast their votes. It must be noted that this is only the sixth time that the Congress president is being elected through elections.

While only two candidates remain after the nominations were closed off – Shashi Tharoor and Mallikarjun Kharge – this is the first time in years that Congress will get a president who is not from the Gandhi family.

The Gandhi family had earlier not confirmed if they will be voting for the new party president this election but is expected that Rahul Gandhi will cast his vote in Karnataka today, while he remains on the Bharat Jodo Yatra, and interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi is expected to cast her vote at the AICC headquarters in New Delhi.

The timings for the Congress presidential polls voting process have been fixed by the AICC earlier. The voting by Congress leaders is set to take place today, between 10 am to 4 pm. Over 8,000 Congress members make up the Electoral College for the presidential polls of the party.

It must be noted that the results of the Congress presidential polls 2022 will be announced on October 19 i.e. Wednesday. While both candidates have a strong following and background, it is expected that Mallikarjun Kharge will take the lead in the polls, as per preliminary reports.

While Shashi Tharoor has been campaigning himself as the “change” in the ideologies of the party, Mallikarjun Kharge has said that he will keep following the set ideology of the party. There were also reports that Kharge is being backed by the Gandhis in the polls, a claim which was dismissed by the party administration.