Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor lost the party’s presidential poll but managed to garner more votes than any of the losing candidates in the elections to the top party post held in 2000 and 1997.
Congress’ central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry on Wednesday announced that of the 9,385 votes polled in the Congress president election, veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge got 7,897 votes and Tharoor 1,072 votes, while 416 votes were declared invalid.
It is a great honour & a huge responsibility to be President of @INCIndia &I wish @Kharge ji all success in that task. It was a privilege to have received the support of over a thousand colleagues,& to carry the hopes& aspirations of so many well-wishers of Congress across India. pic.twitter.com/NistXfQGN1— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 19, 2022
Tharoor got about 12 per cent of the total valid votes. In the last election in 2000, it was Jitendra Prasada who took on Sonia Gandhi. Prasada suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Gandhi who garnered 7,448 votes (98.76 per cent of valid votes), while Prasada reportedly polled a paltry 94 (1.24 per cent of the valid votes).
In 1997, Sitaram Kesri won in a triangular contest with Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot. Kesri posted a big victory getting 6,224 delegates’ votes (83.43 per cent of valid votes) against Pawar’s 882 (11.82 per cent) and Pilot’s 354 (4.75).
The number of total Pradesh Congress Committee delegates can vary in every election. “It is a great honour & a huge responsibility to be president of Congress and I wish Mallikarjun Kharge all success in that task. It was a privilege to have received the support of over a thousand colleagues, & to carry the hopes & aspirations of so many well-wishers of Congress across India,” Tharoor said in a Twitter post as he conceded defeat and congratulated Kharge.
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