Mallikarjun Kharge wins Congress presidential election

Mallikarjun Kharge was elected as the new Congress president on Monday after he secured 7,897 out of the 9,385 votes polled. His rival, Shashi Tharoor, however sprung a surprise by securing 1,072 votes.

Mr. Kharge (80) is the first non-Gandhi leader after 24 years to occupy the party's top post.

Making the formal announcement, Madhusudan Mistry, Chairman of the Central Election Authority,



said: "As per the Article 18D of the constitution of the Indian National Congress, I, Madhusudan Mistry, hereby declare Shri Mallikarjun Kharge as the President of the Indian National Congress."

While the figure for Mr. Tharoor was a little over the 10% mark of the total votes polled, his performance was impressive considering that Mr. Kharge was seen as the "establishment candidate", backed by the Gandhi family.