New Delhi [India], October 19 (ANI): Congress presidential candidate and veteran leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday extended a "big thank you" to the masses who voted for the internal polls of the party.

"As the counting begins in @INCIndia presidential elections, a big "thank you" from me to who all who contributed to making this historic event a landmark in the evolution of our politics," Congress Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor tweeted.

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https://twitter.com/ShashiTharoor/status/1582598219153874944?t=LlnuHTJCqWoDCQj3O6WZmw&s=08

The Congress is all set to get a new party president as the counting of votes began at 10 am today.

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Former Union Ministers Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor are in the fray and it will be for the first time in 24 years that the party will get a chief who does not belong to the Nehru-Gandhi family.

The new president will take place of Sonia Gandhi who has been serving as interim president after Rahul Gandhi stepped down from the post following the party's debacle in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The result is likely to be declared between 3 pm to 4 pm. The ballot boxes from the state headquarters have reached the counting place in the Congress office.

Mallikarjun Kharge is seen as the favourite to win the contest. Five agents from each side will oversee the counting while two agents from both sides will be kept in reserve, sources said.

The Chairman of the Central Election Authority will announce the result after counting. More than 9,500 delegates cast their votes in the presidential election which took place at the culmination of the party's organisational polls.

Sources said that at least seven-eight tables have been set up for the counting of votes and each table would have two persons.

Congress sources also said the elected president will take charge after Diwali in the presence of senior leaders in a programme at the Congress headquarters.

It has not been decided whether the certificate will be given to the winner on Wednesday or later. (ANI)

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