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Congress president polls: Meet those who led the grand old party

Today, Congress will name its first non-Gandhi leader in more than 20 years. Veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge, widely regarded as the favourite, is up against Shashi Tharoor. The party's longest-serving president, Sonia Gandhi, said she had been "waiting for a long time" for the elections.

Congress president polls: Meet those who led the grand old party - adt
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First Published Oct 19, 2022, 9:44 AM IST

The fate of the Congress's next president, between veteran leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor, will be decided on Wednesday, October 19, 2022. Vote counting will begin at 10:00 am at the Congress headquarters in Delhi, where sealed ballot boxes have been brought from across the country. According to Congress, approximately 96 per cent of the 9,915 eligible leaders voted in the Monday election. When asked how she felt about the elections, Sonia Gandhi, the longest-serving party president, said she had been 'waiting for a long time.'

The Congress will name its first non-Gandhi leader in more than 20 years today as votes for the party's internal election are counted. Veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge, widely regarded as the favourite, is up against Shashi Tharoor. Meantime, here's a list of the former president who served the grand old party:

1) From 1948-49 - The historian of the Indian National Congress (INC), B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya, was elected president of the 55th Jaipur session. He was a strong opponent of Bengal's partition in 1905 and was nominated by Mahatma Gandhi to be party chief near the end of 1938, but he was defeated in the election.

2) In 1950 - Purushottam Das Tandon was elected President of the AICC for the Nasik session in 1950. On the eve of the 1952 general elections, he announced his resignation, citing disagreements with Jawaharlal Nehru on the composition of the Working Committee and the dynamic between the party's organisational and governmental wings.

3) From 1951-54 - In 1929, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the country's first prime minister, was elected president of Congress for the first time. Following independence, he was re-elected as AICC president in 1951, a position he held until 1954.

4) From 1955-1959 - Uchharangrai Navalshankar Dhebar was elected president of the Congress in 1955 and held the position through 1959. When he was named chief minister of Saurashtra State in 1948, he was instrumental in bringing the princely kingdoms of Kathiawad into the Indian Union.

5) From 1960-62 - In December 1959, N. Sanjiva Reddy, the first chief minister of the new state of Andhra Pradesh after its constitution, was elected President of the Indian National Congress.

6) From 1964-66 - For three years, the Congress session was presided over by K. Kamaraj, a former Tamil Nadu Congress Committee leader.

7) From 1968 -69 - When supporters of the party were beginning to lose hope, S. Nijalingappa, the man credited with creating modern-day Karnataka, was elected president. The Congress party was divided during his administration.

8) In 1969 - The 73rd Congress session was presided over by Jagjivan Ram, dubbed the "spokesman of the depressed classes." He was the only Dalit leader to lead the country in the following decades.

9) In 1972 - Shankar Dayal Sharma, elected for a two-year term, presided over the Calcutta session. Congress was revitalised and regained some of its lost prestige during his presidency.

10) In 1975 - In Assam's Dibrugarh, D.K. Barooah was born. He was a member of the Constituent Assembly in 1949 and enjoyed a successful political career.

11) In 1978, 1983 - The Congress's special session in Delhi in 1959 was presided over by Indira Gandhi, the nation's first female prime minister.

12) In 1985 - Rajiv Gandhi, the country's sixth prime minister, was elected party president during the Bombay session in 1985 when the party celebrated its centenary.

13) From 1992-94 - Andhra Pradesh leader PV Narasimha Rao is credited for liberalising the Indian economy.

16) In 1997 - Sitaram Kesri presided over the Indian National Congress session in Kolkata, which was then known as Calcutta.

17) In 1998 - Sonia Gandhi, the party's longest-serving president, was also the chairperson of the ruling coalition's Coordinating Committee, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

18) In 2018 - Rahul Gandhi had been the party's leader since December 2017 and resigned in 2019 after the party's defeat in the 2019 general elections. Sonia Gandhi has served as interim party president since Rahul Gandhi's resignation.

Also Read: Congress President polls: Ballot boxes and leaders reach Delhi, counting of votes on October 19

Also Read: Congress president won't be remote controlled by Gandhi family: Mallikarjun Kharge's son Priyank

Also Read: Congress presidential poll voting concludes; results to be out on October 19

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