History beckons as Congress gears up for 6th election for party president

Around 9,300 leaders and workers on Monday will choose between Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor as to who will be the new Congress president, as the party will witness the first contest in the last 22 years and sixth in its 137-year-old history.

The counting of votes will be held on Wednesday after ballot boxes are brought from states. The results will give Congress the first non-Gandhi president in 24 years, as Rahul Gandhi refused to return as party chief and insisted that a non-Gandhi should lead the party.

There had been elections to Congress president post five times earlier -- 1939, 1950, 1977, 1997 and 2000.

Both Kharge and Tharoor have been visiting states to woo 9,308 eligible voters, who are PCC delegates.

Kharge entered the fray at the last minute after Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot bowed out of the race following rebellion by his supporting MLAs against his possible successor Sachin Pilot.

Also Read | 'Congress youngsters with me, seniors backing Kharge', says Shashi Tharoor

While Kharge is considered to have the support of the High Command and senior leaders, including the G-23, that Tharoor was also a part of, all eyes are on how many votes the Thiruvananthapuram MP will garner.

Kharge and Tharoor have maintained that the fight is not personal and both are strengthening the party only. However, Tharoor has complained that some "big" leaders and office bearers disturbed the level-playing field for the Congress presidential election by welcoming Kharge on campaign trail while not doing it for him.

Rahul will cast his vote in a polling booth set up in Bharat Jodo Yatra camp in Ballari.

"There’ve been queries on where Rahul Gandhi will cast his vote tomorrow for the Congress Presidential election. There should be no speculation. He will be voting at the Bharat Jodo Yatra campsite in Sanganakallu, Ballari along with around 40 other Bharat Yatris who are PCC delegates," Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said.

The Congress has claimed that its internal democracy has no parallel in any other party and it is the only one to have a central election authority for organisational polls.

Also Read | Some leaders openly supporting Kharge disturbs level-playing field: Tharoor on Congress prez poll

It was way back in 1939, when an electoral contest decided who would be Congress president and in fact, Mahatma Gandhi's candidate P Sitaramayya had lost to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Then in 1950 came the Congress' first election post-Independence for the post of party president when Purshotttam Das Tandon and Acharya Kripalani faced off for the top post. Surprisingly, Tandon, seen as a Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel loyalist, had won the contest trumping the then PM Jawaharlal Nehru's choice.

In 1977, following the resignation of Dev Kant Barooah as party president in the wake of the defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, K Brahmananda Reddy defeated Siddhartha Shankar Ray and Karan Singh in the party's polls for AICC chief.

The next election that needed a contest came 20 years later in 1997 when Sitaram Kesri squared off in a triangular contest with Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot.

Except for Maharashtra and parts of Uttar Pradesh, all state Congress units had backed Kesri. He had posted a landslide victory getting 6,224 delegates' votes against Pawar's 882 and Pilot's 354.

The third contest came in 2000 and this was the only time a Gandhi family member was challenged in the elections with Jitendra Prasada taking on Sonia Gandhi. Prasada suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Sonia Gandhi who garnered over 7,400 votes, while Prasada reportedly polled a paltry 94.

The upcoming polls would certainly be historic as the new president would replace Sonia Gandhi, the longest-serving party president who has been at the helm since 1998, barring the two years between 2017 and 2019 when Rahul Gandhi took over.

In the post-Independence era, a person from the Gandhi family has been at the helm of the party for about 40 years in total.

After Independence, with Sitaramayya assuming office as AICC chief in 1948, the party has been led by 17 people so far, of which five have been presidents from the Gandhi family.

In 1947, Acharya Kriplani was the president after which Sitaramayya assumed office as party chief post-independence in 1948-49. In 1950, Tandon became chief following which Nehru served as the party chief between 1951 and 1955. Nehru left the post of Congress president in 1955 and UN Dhebar took over the reins of the party.

Indira Gandhi was the Congress president in 1959, followed by N S Reddy who remained at the helm till 1963.

K Kamraj was president of the Congress in 1964-67, while S Nijalingappa was the Congress president in 1968-69.

Jagjivan Ram became the Congress president in 1970-71 and then Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma was the Congress president from 1972-74. Devkant Barua was the Congress president from 1975-77.

From 1977-78, K Brahmananda Reddy was the president.

Indira Gandhi again became the Congress president and held the reins of the party from 1978-1984.

From 1985 to 1991 after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, her son Rajiv Gandhi was the Congress president. Between 1992 and 1996, P V Narasimha Rao was the Congress president.

Kesri assumed the presidency after that and was replaced by Sonia Gandhi in 1998. She remained at the helm till 2017, when Rahul Gandhi became president. Sonia Gandhi returned as interim chief in 2019 after Rahul Gandhi resigned following the Lok Sabha polls debacle.

(With inputs from PTI)