Counting Begins for Congress President Polls, Party to Get New Chief After 24 Years

The Congress is set to get a new president on Wednesday as counting for presidential post began at 10 am.

Former Union Ministers Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor are in the fray and it will be for the first time in 24 years that the party will get a party chief who does not belong to the Nehru-Gandhi family.

The new president will replace Sonia Gandhi who had been serving as interim president after Rahul Gandhi stepped down from the post following the party's debacle in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The result is likely to be declared between 3 pm to 4 pm. The ballot boxes from the state headquarters have reached the counting place in the Congress office.

Mallikarjun Kharge is seen as the favourite to win the contest. Five agents from each side will oversee the counting while two agents from both sides will be kept in reserve, sources said as reported by ANI.

The Chairman of the Central Election Authority will announce the result after counting. More than 9,500 delegates cast their votes in the presidential election which took place at the culmination of the party's organisational polls.

Sources said seven-eight tables will be set up for counting of votes and each table will have two persons.

Congress sources said the elected president will take charge after Diwali in the presence of senior leaders in a programme at the Congress headquarters.