Counting of votes for Congress presidential poll: 10-point guide

Senior Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor are set to face off today for the post for the AICC chief. Here's all you need to know:

1. Congress's new president will be the first non-Gandhi president in over 20 years. Other non-Gandhis who held the party's top position include JB Kripalani (1947), Pattabhi Sitaramayya (1948-49), and Purushottam Das Tandon (1950) among others.

2. Sonia Gandhi is the longest-serving president of the party, having held the office for over twenty years from 1998 to 2017 and since 2019.

3. The election was held on October 17 and conducted through a secret ballot.

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4. The last such election took place in 2000 in which Sonia Gandhi was pitched against Jitendra Prasada. Prasada suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Sonia Gandhi who garnered over 7,400 votes, while Prasada reportedly polled a paltry 94.

5. A total of 9,497 out of 9,915 Congress leaders and workers cast their vote. A special polling booth was set up in the Bharat Jodo Yatra camp in Karnataka’s to enable voters, including Rahul Gandhi, participating in the yatra to cast their vote.

6. Among those who voted at various parts of the country included party chief Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi and the two candidates among others.

Read | Kharge or Tharoor? Congress set to have its next president on October 19

7. Counting of votes will take place on Wednesday morning at the AICC headquarters. The sealed ballot boxes will be opened and the ballot papers will be mixed in the presence of election agents of both the candidates following which counting will begin.

8. While Kharge is considered to have the support of the High Command and senior leaders, including the G-23, that Tharoor was also a part of, all eyes are on how many votes the Thiruvananthapuram MP will garner.

9. Kharge and Tharoor have maintained that the fight is not personal and both are strengthening the party only. However, Tharoor has complained that some "big" leaders and office bearers disturbed the level-playing field for the Congress presidential election by welcoming Kharge on campaign trail while not doing it for him.

10. If he wins, Kharge will be the second Dalit to become Congress president after Jagjivan Ram who held the post in 1970 and 1971.