Congress President Polls: ‘I am confident…party’s future with workers who vote’, says Shashi Tharoor

New Delhi: Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday (October 17, 2022) said the revival of the grand old party has begun whatever the outcome and that the fate of the Indian National Congress lies in the hands of the party workers.

"I am confident. The fate of the Congress party is in the hands of party workers. The odds have been stacked against us as the party leaders and establishment were overwhelmingly with the other candidate," Tharoor told mediapersons at Kerala`s Thiruvananthapuram today.

Tharoor also said he had spoken to Kharge earlier in the day. "Today I spoke to Mr Kharge and said whatever has happened, we remain colleagues and friends," Tharoor said.

I believe the revival of Congress has begun: Congress presidential candidate Shashi Tharoor

Today I spoke to Mr Kharge and said whatever has happened, we remain colleagues and friends, Tharoor adds. pic.twitter.com/4gv1zR5W99 — ANI (@ANI) October 17, 2022

‘Together have to build party’: Mallikarjun Kharge

"It is part of our internal election. Whatever we said to each other is on a friendly note. Together we have to build the party. (Shashi) Tharoor telephoned me and wished me luck and I also said the same,” Kharge was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. 

Karnataka | Congress presidential election candidate Mallikarjun Kharge casts his vote in Bengaluru pic.twitter.com/bfIsEGfVPp — ANI (@ANI) October 17, 2022

Sonia, Rahul, Priyanka vote to elect next Congress chief

Sonia Gandhi cast her vote at the headquarters of the All India Congress Committee (AICC). Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also accompanied her mother Sonia Gandhi and cast her vote for the next president of the Indian National Congress in the national capital on Monday.

Congress presidential elections | Party's interim president Sonia Gandhi and General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra cast their vote at the AICC office in Delhi. pic.twitter.com/N5dJLQFQ7l — ANI (@ANI) October 17, 2022

Rahul Gandhi cast his vote in a meeting room container converted into a polling booth at the Bharat Jodo Yatra camp site in Sanganakallu in Ballari district, while Kharge voted at the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee office in Bengaluru. About 40 other Bharat Yatris, who are PCC delegates, will also be casting their votes at the camp site in Sanganakallu on Monday, which has been declared as "Rest Day" for the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

#WATCH | Congress MP Rahul Gandhi casts his vote to elect the next party president at Bharat Jodo Yatra campsite in Ballari, Karnataka

(Source: AICC) pic.twitter.com/9Jit8vIpVo — ANI (@ANI) October 17, 2022

‘I have been waiting for a long time’: Sonia Gandhi 

Congress president Sonia Gandhi cast her vote in the party`s polls to elect her successor today. "I have been waiting for a long time," Sonia Gandhi said when she was asked by mediapersons on the poll. 

#WATCH | "I have been waiting for a long time for this thing," says Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on the party's presidential election pic.twitter.com/9giL5DeOEX — ANI (@ANI) October 17, 2022

Voting for the party`s presidential polls commenced at 10 am today and will culminate at 4 pm. Results will be declared on October 19. 

The fate of the Congress party will be decided by over 9,000 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates who comprise the electoral college for electing the party chief. 

With the party all set to elect its new president, the 75 delegates, including interim chief Sonia Gandhi, General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and senior leaders will cast their vote in the headquarters of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in New Delhi.

Apart from these, 280 other delegates will also cast their vote in the Delhi Congress office, the sources added. The delegates who obtained prior permission from the Central Election Authority to cast their vote will vote in Delhi instead of their own state today.

It is not the first time that a non-Gandhi leader is contesting for the party presidency post-Independence, Jitendra Prasad contested for the post of the president about 22 years ago against Sonia Gandhi in which she emerged as a winner holding the mantle of the party for 20 years.

Sonia Gandhi is the longest-serving president of the party, having held the office for over twenty years from 1998 to 2017 and since 2019.

This time no member of the Gandhi family is contesting for the post of President.This is the sixth time in its nearly 137-year-old history that polls are being conducted to elect the national president of the party. In the 2017 elections, Rahul Gandhi became the president unopposed. (With agency inputs)