Shashi Tharoor today alleged “extremely serious irregularities” as votes were being counted two days after the Congress presidential election.

This is for the first time in 24 years that the Congress party will get a president who does not belong to the Nehru-Gandhi family.

Shashi Tharoor’s rival in the contest is veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who is the favourite, and is seen to have been “approved” by the Gandhi family.

Soon after counting began, Mr Tharoor’s team alleged that there were “disturbing facts” in the election process in Uttar Pradesh and demanded that votes in the state be cancelled. “We did not contest this election to accept business as usual,” said team Tharoor.

Salman Soz, representing Mr Tharoor’s team, later said they had been “assured of a fair inquiry” had had agreed that counting should continue.

“In light of complaints from our UP team yesterday, we wrote to @INCIndia’s CEA immediately, a standard practice.

Subsequent discussions with the CEA have assured us of a fair inquiry. We have agreed for the counting to continue and our team looks forward to the results,” he tweeted.

“We would like to underline that we have no evidence that Mallikarjun Kharge ji was aware of how his supporters were engaging in electoral malpractice in Uttar Pradesh. We are certain that if he were aware, he would never allow what happened in Uttar Pradesh. He would not allow the tainting of an election that is so important for the Indian National Congress,” team Tharoor wrote.

It flagged problems like unofficial seals for ballot boxes, presence of unofficial people in polling booths and voting malpractice.

Tharoor also extended a “big thank you” to the voters.

“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,”  Tharoor tweeted.

The new president will take the 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.

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.