After a long time, the election for the post of the Congress president was held on Monday. It is a direct contest between Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor. The voting has ended and the results will be out on the 19th of this month. This is the first time that the party has voted for a non-Gandhi chief, the first in nearly 25 years. Bruised by relentless criticism of their leadership because of election defeats, the Gandhis refused to get involved in the polls and asserted that it was time for a non-Gandhi to take charge.
Some 9,000 delegates, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, voted. Though the Gandhis are not in the contest, Kharge is widely seen to be their choice for the top post. This is the sixth actual election in the 137-year-old party after independence. For much of its history, members of the Nehru-Gandhi family have been elected unopposed. Now one has to wait for the official declaration of the result. Whoever wins will have the difficult task of reviving the fortunes of the Congress. If Kharge wins, as many expect, he will not only have to work hard to revive the party but also shed the image of being a proxy candidate of the Gandhis. His decisions will come under scrutiny as many allege that the Gandhis will remotely control him. But whatever may be, the Congress deserves to be appreciated for conducting a proper election to elect its new president. This kind of internal democracy bodes well for the party in the long run. They have to go beyond the Gandhis.