New Delhi: Veteran Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge officially assumed leadership of the party on Wednesday at the All India Congress Committee headquarters in the capital.

Congress Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry handed over the certificate of election to the top post. “I hope other parties draw a lesson from the Congress and hold polls for presidency by secret ballot,” said Mistry.

Congress President-elect Mallikarjun Kharge, former party president Sonia Gandhi, MP Rahul Gandhi and party's General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra reach AICC headquarters in Delhi

Kharge to take charge as national president of the Congress party shortly. pic.twitter.com/mIjXg7R04g

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Former party president Sonia Gandhi, MP Rahul Gandhi and party’s General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also attended the event.

Earlier, Kharge on Tuesday met former prime minister Manmohan Singh at his home. On Wednesday morning, he paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi at his memorial, Rajghat. He also visited memorials of former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, besides former deputy PM Jagjivan Ram.

Kharge has a difficult job ahead of him as the party faces numerous organisational and electoral issues after he was chosen as the first chief of the Congress outside of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty in 24 years.

Kharge, a man with extensive managerial and organisational expertise, entered the race for the party’s top position when Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot decided not to run.

Shashi Tharoor received 1072 votes, while Kharge, 80, who was viewed as the “establishment’s candidate” against him, received 7,897.

Kharge is a Dalit leader who rose from the bottom up. After S Nijalingappa, who led the Congress as president in 1968, Kharge will be the second leader from Karnataka to assume the top party position.

In his more than five decades of involvement in politics, Kharge has served as a union minister, a leader of the Congress in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, and he has held a number of positions in Karnataka, where he was a nine-time MLA.

Kharge is a brash, eloquent, and approachable politician who is at ease speaking in Hindi and English. He has been a vocal opponent of the BJP-led administration.

In order to revive the Congress in the Hindi heartland states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, as well as in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, he must overcome significant obstacles. In some other states, notably the northeast, the Congress has seen its support erode. In other states, AAP is attempting to become a rival.