New Delhi: On 19 October, Mallikarjun Kharge defeated Shashi Tharoor – securing 7,897 votes against 1,072 of Congress MP – and was elected national president of the Congress.
After becoming the 98th President of the 137-year-old Indian National Congress, Kharge has created a lot of records.
Only the sixth elected president and the third Dalit to hold the post, he is also the first non-Gandhi president to hold the post after 24 years. Although members of the Nehru-Gandhi family were party presidents for 40 of the 75 years since independence – and for six years before 1947 – no Gandhi had to contest for the position, except in 2000 when Sonia Gandhi Contested against Jitendra Prasad. ,
ThePrint takes a look at five leaders before Kharge who contested and won the party’s presidential election.
1939 – Subhas Chandra Bose Vs B Pattabhi Sitaramayya
the winner: Subhash Chandra Bose
Until 1939, Congress presidents were generally elected by consensus. That year, party president Subhas Chandra Bose, was going against Mahatma Gandhi’s will announced his intention to stand for President for a second time.
At that time Congress presidents used to have a one-year term. Bose was elected unopposed in 1938. In 1939, however, he faced a challenge in the Gandhi-backed Pattabhi Sitaramayya.
The elections were fought amid growing differences between left and right wing leaders of the Congress – Bose was a leftist. he finished to achieve 1,575 votes against Sitaramayya’s 1,376.
After Sitaramayya failed to win, Gandhi is said to have declared that the defeat was his personal defeat. However, opposition from Gandhi’s loyalists made it difficult for Bose to continue, forcing him to resign almost four months into his second term.
1950 , Purushottam Das Tandon Vs Acharya Kripalani
the winner: Purushottam Das Tandon
A decade later, after Bose v Gandhi, the elections came to be seen as a Nehru v Patel contest. Purushottam Das Tandon who came from the authority of Congress was supported by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, while Acharya Kriplani to Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru.
Tandon got 1,306 votes, Kripalani got 1,092 votes. However, after growing differences with Nehru, Tandon eventually resigned.
On the other hand, Acharya Kripalani left the Congress after his defeat and co-founded Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party. It was also Kripalani who first moved the no-confidence motion on the floor of the Lok Sabha in 1963.
1977 – Karan Singh Vs. K. Brahmananda Reddy Vs Siddhartha Shankar Rai
the winner: Of. Brahmananda Reddy
Devkant Barua was the President of the Indian National Congress when the party was Defeated In the 1977 general election. Taking moral responsibility for the defeat, he resigned.
After this, three candidates threw their hats for the election – K Brahmananda Reddy, Siddhartha Shankar Ray and Karan Singh.
With the support of Indira Gandhi, K. Brahmananda Reddy won these elections with a wide margin. He Safe 317 votes, 160 for Ray and 16 for Singh. According to the book Indira Gandhi: The Woman of India’s Destiny“There were slogans to the effect that her victory indicated the victory of Indira Gandhi”.
This comes at a time when Indira Gandhi was facing resistance within the party. Congress saw the formation of many lobbies during this period and Reddy terrorist From Gandhi’s group to the Barua-Siddharth Ray lobby in the party.
In January of 1978, Reddy (as President) was with some senior Members of Congress, who expelled Indira Gandhi from the party when she split the Congress and formed her own.
1997 – Sharad Pawar vs Sitaram Kesari vs Rajesh Pilot
the winner: Sitaram Kesari
Two decades later, there was a triangular contest between Sharad Pawar, Sitaram Kesari and Rajesh Pilot.
Kesari, who had barely campaigned or stepped out of his bungalow, got 6,227 votes. Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot, who campaigned in every nook and corner of the country, got 882 and 354 votes respectively. Kesari after the result Told“The average Congressman does not like to see his leader travel in a luxurious fashion.”
As Speaker, Kesari had previously been instrumental in the fall of the HD Deve Gowda government, when the Congress withdrew its support.
However, Kesari’s downfall happened quickly. Even though Sonia Gandhi virtually led the Congress in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections, Kesari was Kesari blamed For loss. The Congress was reduced to 141 seats, while the BJP formed the government with 181 seats.
After this defeat, Sonia loyalists hastened to remove Kesari from the presidency. The Congress Working Committee (CWC) had locked him in an AICC room from outside and passed a resolution to replace him with Sonia Gandhi. This marked the return of the Gandhi family to the helm of the Congress after seven years.
According to reportsKesari’s belongings were “shipped away from the party office in a jeep, with a message for them to never return”.
2000 – Sonia Gandhi Vs Jitendra Prasad
the winner: Sonia Gandhi
A candidate from the Gandhi family had contested elections in 2000 when Jitendra Prasad threw his hat against Sonia Gandhi for the post of party chief.
Prasad was completely abandoned Isolated As soon as he filed his candidature. Only a handful of leaders were willing to make public appearances supporting the former vice-president of the party against the Gandhi family candidate. Prasad on several occasions questioned fairness of elections.
Sonia won as the President of the Congress Party and even more so as the face of the party during its turbulent times. He secured 7,448 votes out of 7,543 valid votes, while Prasad failed to reach triple digits, receiving 94.
(Edited by Jinnia Ray Chowdhury)
Read also: Udaipur announcement is my manifesto, focus will be on party reorganization: Kharge