The Congress began voting today to elect the first non-Gandhi president in 24 years, as the party gears for the fifth major election in its 137-year-old history and only the first such election in the past 20 years.The election is a direct contest between 80-year-old Karnataka veteran Mallikarjun Kharge and 66-year-old former UN diplomat-turned-politician Shashi Tharoor.
Former finance minister P Chidambaram was the first to vote at the AICC headquarters followed by senior leaders.Rahul Gandhi will vote in a Bharat Jodo Yatra campsite at Ballari in Karnataka while contestants Kharge and Tharoor will vote in their respective state unit offices at Karnataka and Kerala.
The results will be declared after the counting of votes on October 19.The last election for the post was held in 2000 when Sonia Gandhi defeated Jitendra Prasad winning 7,448 votes against the latter’s 94.
