On Rahul Gandhi Declaring Congress Chief Before Results, Congress Explains

Congress president election: Mallikarjun Kharge received 7,897 votes and Shashi Tharoor polled 1,072 votes.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday defended Rahul Gandhi for referring to veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge as the new Congress president even before the result of the party election was announced. The direction of voting was quite clear when Mr Gandhi made the comment at the press meet, Mr Ramesh said, criticising "erroneous media reports" over Mr Gandhi's comment. There have been erroneous media reports that Rahul Gandhi announced Kharge-ji as Congress President during his press meet that began at Adoni at around 1pm. The fact is that the direction of voting was quite clear before the press meet began.

"The new president will decide what my role will be. Ask Kharge ji and Sonia ji," Rahul Gandhi said to a question on his role in the party.  

Rahul Gandhi, who led the party's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' into Andhra Pradesh, made the comments during a press meet around 1.30 pm, at a time when the counting was on. Results were not declared until around 2 pm.