Veteran Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge was elected the new party president on Wednesday after he polled nearly 8,000 votes in the presidential election.
Picture Credit - Google 

Shashi Tharoor, who garnered nearly 1,100 votes, conceded defeat minutes after the announcement and said that the "revival of our party has truly begun today".


Around 9,500 party delegates voted in the election. 

Kharge

 received 7,897 votes while Tharoor got 1,072 votes.


Mistry declares Kharge as winner

Congress CEC chairman Madhusudan Mistry held a press conference on Wednesday evening: "I hereby declare Mallikarjun Kharge as the elected President of Congress."
"Total counted votes were 9,385, of which Mallikarjun Kharge received 7,897 votes and Dr Shashi Tharoor received 1,072 votes. Invalid votes- 416," said Mistry.

On allegations by Tharoor regarding fraud, Mistry said: "UP had 6 ballot boxes of which 4 didn't have any issues. We got the seals of all ballot boxes checked by him (Shashi Tharoor) this morning. He stated, 2 ballot boxes did not have the embossed ballot box numbers."

Rahul announces new chief ahead of official results

Even before the results of the Congress presidential elections were officially announced, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said Mallikarjun Kharge will decide his role in the party.

"I can't comment on the Congress president's role, that's for Mr. Kharge (party's Presidential candidate) to comment on. The president will decide what my role is ... and where I will be deployed ... ask Kharge ji and Sonia ji," said Congress MP amid the Andhra Pradesh leg of Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Within an hour of his statement, the results were announced and Mallikarjun Kharge was officially declared the winner of the Congress presidential elections with 7,897 votes, Shashi Tharoor got 1,072 votes.

Tharoor concedes defeat

Congratulating party president-elect Kharge, Tharoor tweeted: "It is a great honour and a huge responsibility to be President of INC and I wish Kharge ji all success in that task. It was a privilege to have received the support of over a thousand colleagues, and to carry the hopes and aspirations of so many well-wishers of Congress across India."

Tharoor alleges fraud

The Shashi Tharoor camp of the Congress has alleged "extremely serious irregularities" in Uttar Pradesh during the conduct of party president election.
In a letter addressed to the Central Election Authority (CEA) chief Madhusudan Mistry, Salman Soz, chief election agent for Tharoor has alleged that the election process in UP is "devoid of credibility and integrity" and a challenge to the authority of the CEA.

Tharoor camp has alleged "lack of proper sealing mechanism" for ballot boxes. In UP, ballot boxes were sealed without the "white plastic tag with serial number," the letter said. When raised with election officials, the team was assured that proper seal will be applied later, and claimed that the CEC office has only sent "unofficial plastic seals."

The team also shared photos of the so called "unofficial seals" used in ballot boxes in UP.