Kharge Wins INC Leadership Contest, Faces Major Task In Challenging Modi

Mallikarjun Kharge has been elected as the new leader of the main opposition Indian National Congress (INC), becoming the first individual not from the Gandhi political dynasty to head up the party since Sitaram Kesri in 1998.

• Kharge, the head of the INC in the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of the Indian parliament), won the party leadership election with 84.3% of the vote, easily defeating second placed challenger, former minister and member of the Lok Sabha (the lower chamber of parliament) Sashi Tharoor.
• While Kharge is not a member of the Gandhi dynasty, he is view as their hand-picked successor to Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia (the latter of whom has served as interim party head since Rahul's resignation in 2019).
• Tharoor had run as a new voice within the party, with some observers stating that he was one of the few INC politicians that could effectively challenge incumbent PM Narendra Modi on the rhetorical front. However, with the 80-year old Kharge leading the party this is deemed to be a more difficult prospect.
• The INC, historically the dominant party of India up until Modi's rise to power, holds just 53 of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha and governs without coalition partners in two states. The next federal election must take place by May 2024 at the latest, and at present there is little sign of an outcome other than another majority for Modi's BJP.