At the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in Delhi on Wednesday, Mallikarjun Kharge, the newly elected president of the Indian National Congress,formally took charge as new INC president.

Congress Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry handed over the certificate of election of the presidential post of the Congress to Mallikarjun Kharge in the presence of congress leaders and MP Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and party general Sec. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

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Earlier, kharge visited Rajghat to pay homage to Mahatama Gandhi and Jawahar Lal Nehru and Indira Gandhi at Shanti van and Shakti Sthal respectively.

Kharge became the first non-Gandhi to take over the position after beating Shashi Tharoor by a wide margin in the fight for the party’s top position. The election for the top post in the party were held after 24 years to choose a democratically held elections.

The son of a mill worker, who started his political journey as the city Congress chief, becomes the National President of the Congress – this distinction makes Congress the party of the nation, of the workers and of the public.#CongressPresidentKharge pic.twitter.com/yt3hDVmK11

— Congress (@INCIndia) October 26, 2022

In the presidential election, which was held on October 17, Kharge received 7,897 votes, while Tharoor received 1,072.

In a statement to the media following his victory, Kharge claimed that during the course of the nation’s 75-year history, Congress has “continuously enhanced democracy” and safeguarded the Constitution.

“Now when democracy is in danger and Constitution is being attacked, and every institution is being broken, Congress has presented an example of strengthening the country’s democracy by conducting organisational elections at the national level. I thank everyone connected with the election,” he said.

He also congratulated Tharoor and said that they discussed methods to take the party forward. Tharoor had visited Kharge’s residence to congratulate him on his victory.

“I want to congratulate my partner Shashi Tharoor as well. We were contesting the election as representatives. He met me and we discussed how to take the party forward,” Kharge said.