India: After 25 years in Congress, election for party president outside the Gandhi family

 India's opposition party, Congress, has held elections for the party presidency after nearly 25 years outside the Nehru Gandhi family, the results of which will be announced on October 19.

According to the British news agency Reuters, despite the leadership of Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi, the Congress was defeated by the BJP in the last two general elections. The next general elections in India will be held in 2024.

In the Congress party, two candidates are facing each other for the presidency, one of which is 80-year-old Malik Arjun Kharj, who has the support of many party members. The other candidate is 66-year-old Shashi Tharoor, who complains about party leaders' open support for Malik Arjun's ouster.

Congress leader Ajay Kumar Lalu from the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh says, "We strongly support Malik Arjun Kharaj and expect him to get 80 to 90 percent of the votes."

"Malik Arjun represents the ideals of the party outside and he has the support of the leadership."

Malik Arjun Kharj said that he wants the support of party leaders to create a better India.

In Uttar Pradesh, there are 1200 representatives of the Congress party out of about 9000 representatives who will elect their president. Rahul Gandhi left the post in 2019 and his mother Sonia Gandhi has been serving as caretaker president since then.

 Shashi Tharoor wrote in a tweet on Monday that "spoke to Malik Arjun Kharij to express his best wishes, pay respects to him and show his commitment to the success of the party."

The presidency of the Congress party was held by the Gandhi family for most of the time, holding the post for five years, except in 1937, 1950, 1997 and 2000 when there was more than one candidate in the elections.