New Delhi, Oct 17, 2022, By Special Correspondent

New Delhi, Oct 17: Around 9,500 Congress delegates on Monday cast their votes in the party's presidential poll as senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor faced off for the post of AICC chief.

The voting started at 10 AM at the AICC headquarters in the national capital and at the party's polling booths in state offices across the country and witnessed a turnout of 96 per cent.

Though complained of an uneven playing field by none other than Tharoor, the election becomes quite interesting and much credit goes to his personality, oratory, appeal, social media reach, intense campaign, urban fan following and TV debates.

Voting started at 10 in the morning today and ended by 4 PM in all state units’ offices and the party headquarters for Congress Working Committee members with special arrangements made for the delegates who are part of the high-profile Bharat Jodo Yatra of Rahul Gandhi, whose resignation following the party’s poor performance in the 2019 Indian general election, necessitated this election after much hue and cry by a section of the party.

Despite Gandhis publicly appearing neutral and making no noise in favour of any candidate, party veteran Mallikarjun Kharge is considered the firm favourite owing to his proximity to the Gandhi family. Tagged as the establishment candidate by many, Kharge’s vast experiences and closeness with majority of the leaders in the party, may also work in his favour.

While, people expect Kharge to be a status quoist, Tharoor has pitched for a change in the structure and functioning. He has also advocated decentralisation in the organisation so that all decisions are not taken in Delhi, but by state units and leaders.

In the meantime, both candidates did hectic campaigns and crisscrossed several state capitals appealing to the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates who form the Electoral College for electing the party chief.

Today, the votes of around 9,000 PCC delegates will be sealed in the box till October 19, when counting will be held.

In the meantime, a few senior leaders including Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot openly appealed to the electorate to vote in favour of Kharge, who also happens to be senior to majority of them.

Senior Congress leader Madhusudan Mistry heads the Central Election Authority (CEA) of the Congress, which conducts the election process. Mistry issued a set of guidelines on the voting procedure on the eve of the election.

The ballot paper for the election, has the names of two candidates and all electorates have been instructed to put a tick mark on it in front of the candidate of their choice. Any other symbol or writing than the tick mark, would invalidate the vote. The CEA even held a demo session with Pradesh Returning Officers on the voting process so that they train their colleagues for the same.

Whosoever wins the election for the top job in one of the two national parties in the country, one thing is clear that this is a big push for a structural change that many think is important to happen in the party. The elections are happening after 22 years and no Gandhi is a candidate for the top job.

Earlier, in 2000, Jitendra Prasada was defeated by Sonia Gandhi by a huge margin. Before that election, Sitaram Kesri, Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot were in the fray for the top post in 1997, when Kesri had won by a big margin.