New Delhi: As the Congress Working Committee delegates across India elect their next party president, it is almost clear that the 80-year-old Mallikarjun Kharge is headed for a big win against his rival Shashi Tharoor. The former's advantage became evident in the run-up to the polls as a majority of senior leaders came out in support of the octogenarian's candidature, which was considered to have the Gandhi family’s approval. Tharoor, on the other hand, is a part of the rebel group of leaders who have been raising the issue of a leadership crisis in the party and questioning the Gandhi family’s hold over the organisation.

While Kharge’s nomination was proposed by a string of senior leaders in the party, including former Union ministers Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari, Mukul Wasnik, Prithviraj Chavan, and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda – who were also a part of the rebel group, Tharoor struggled to get any of the prominent names in the Congress to second him. In the end, Tharoor’s nomination was backed by second-rung leaders like Salman Soz, Mohsina Kidwai, and Karti Chidambaram.

Those in support of Kharge kept reiterating that they wanted the K. Kamaraj formula of having a consensus candidate instead of an election for the post of president – an indirect condemnation of Tharoor’s refusal to opt out of the contest. As the poll came closer, Tharoor alleged that he wasn’t given a “level-playing field” because of the apparent support of the Gandhis to Kharge, and that most Pradesh Congress Committee presidents did not even make themselves available for him to campaign in different states. He kept requesting the election authority to make the list of delegates public but in vain.

Although interim president Sonia Gandhi let the media know that there wasn’t a preferred candidate for the Gandhis, the developments in the run-up to the elections pointed towards the contrary. On Monday, as the polling happened, most senior leaders refrained from naming any of the two candidates but indicated that they will prefer "political experience" (read Kharge) over anything else.

The predetermined outcome of the election, however, doesn’t take anything away from the Thiruvananthapuram MP’s spirited campaign that asserted the dire need to revamp the Congress through a three-pronged strategy of “decentralisation, inclusion, and modernisation”. Despite odds, he led his campaign with the sedulous candour and energy that Tharoor is known for.

To top it all, Kharge wasn’t even the first preference of Gandhis. It was the Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot who was Sonia Gandhi’s first choice but orchestrated a rebellion when it became clear that he would have to give up the chief ministership. Gehlot got his wish but at the cost of great embarrassment for the party.

All these developments have only provided the ruling BJP multiple chances to project that the election process has only shown that the Gandhi family’s stronghold over the party remains unchallenged, and that nothing will change. It has likened Kharge to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, against whom it had run a concerted campaign of being "remote-controlled" by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi during the UPA-II government.

The leadership crisis that the party has faced even during the election has also upset the attention its Bharat Jodo Yatra has been getting. Rahul Gandhi has been leading the march and plans to walk almost 3500 km from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. There has hardly been any leader or a party in India’s recent political history to have taken such a challenge. The Yatra, seen as the biggest attack the Congress has mounted on the BJP, drew huge crowds in Kerala and Karnataka. The Yatra will be successful even if it achieves a fraction of what it set out to gain. The BJP, too, appeared shaken but the Congress president’s elections gave it ample scope to divert attention away from the Yatra.

Yet, the election for the party president is unique in more ways than one. The party polls have happened after two decades and no Gandhi family member is in the race. It has also come at a time when the party is possibly in its weakest shape. The principal opposition party has its poorest representation in parliament. It has been on a losing streak in elections after elections, its organisational strength the weakest ever. Many of its senior leaders have deserted the ship, while many others have raised the flag of dissent. Factionalism has fragmented the party even further.

The big question, therefore, is how will the newly-elected president face such challenges. Where does he start, in his bid to revive the party? On October 19, 2022, when Kharge is likely to be appointed as the next party president, he can only hope that the crown of thorns will still help him show the way forward.

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