Mallikarjun Kharge is set to be the new Congress president after a landslide victory over Shashi Tharoor in the party’s first election after 24 years.

“Mallikarjun Kharge wins the Congress presidential elections with 7897 votes, Shashi Tharoor got about 1000 votes. Kharge has won with 8 times more votes,” Congress leader Pramod Tiwari announced on Wednesday.

The election comes three years after Sonia Gandhi agreed to temporarily lead the party when Rahul Gandhi stepped down after crushing the party was routed into two consecutive Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and 2019.

Mr Kharge was a last-minute entrant after Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot dropped out of the race as he was not willing to hand over the Rajasthan chief minister’s post to arch rival Sachin Pilot. The Karnataka leader was seen as the candidate approved by the Gandhi family and was expected to sail to an easy victory over Tharoor.

Shashi Tharoor, who was pitted against Kharge conceded his defeat and wished the veteran leader “all success.”

“It is a great honour & a huge responsibility to be President of @INCIndia &I wish @Kharge

ji all success in that task. It was a privilege to have received the support of over a thousand colleagues,& to carry the hopes& aspirations of so many well-wishers of Congress across India.” Tharoor tweeted.

Earlier, Tharoor alleged “extremely serious irregularities” in the election process. Salman Soz, representing Mr Tharoor’s team, later said they had been “assured of a fair inquiry” had had agreed that counting should continue.

More than 9,500 delegates cast their votes in the presidential election which took place at the culmination of the party’s organizational polls.

As per Congress sources, the elected president will take charge after Diwali in the presence of senior leaders at an event to be held at the Congress headquarters in Delhi.