New Delhi: With the Congress presidential election three days away, on October 17, Shashi Tharoor has alleged a ‘lack of a level playing field’, with party delegates turning up in large numbers for his contender Mallikarjun Kharge’s campaign while his visits to various party units are evoking a cold response.The difference in reception received by Kharge and Tharoor during their visits to state Congress units to drum up support for their candidature can’t get any starker. On Thursday, October 13, when Tharoor was in Delhi to address the delegates of the local Pradesh Congress Committee, only 10 showed up out of 272 delegates, who are part of the electoral college. However, 250 delegates took part in Kharge’s campaign in Delhi held a few days ago.This is true of most states that Tharoor has visited so far. During his visit to the Congress party office in Tamil Nadu, only a handful of 710 delegates, who are eligible to vote in the election, turned up.While the Congress leadership continues to maintain that it is a free and fair election, delegates who would be casting their votes already seem to have an understanding that Kharge is the ‘unofficial’ official candidate of the top leadership.Tharoor could not but speak about the preferential treatment being received by Kharge. “We have seen this at several PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) offices. When Kharge goes, all the senior leaders are present, delegates come in large numbers. Delegates are told by the state leaders to be present. This never happened in my case. This is why I am saying there is no level playing field,” he charged after meeting delegates in Delhi, according to The Telegraph.Shashi Tharoor and Mallikarjun Kharge. Photos: The Wire, PTI Collage: The WireHowever, in the same breath, he tried to blame it on the fact that the party is holding such an election after long. “We are holding elections after 22 years and there will be shortcomings. But to many places I traveled, I felt some of the Pradesh Congress Committee chiefs were not keen on meeting me. They never showed me the same warmth they have for Mr. Kharge. I am not complaining, but can’t you see the difference in treatment?” The Hindu quoted him as saying.Many leaders question the credentials of Tharoor over Kharge, who is seen as an organisational man and an ordinary party worker who rose through the ranks. “Who is Tharoor? How did he presume he could be the Congress president? We are toiling in the party for 30-40 years. He came in 2009 and contested the Lok Sabha election straightaway. Now he wants to lead us. Even G-23 (a cabal of rebels), which he was a part of, refused to support him because there were many veterans in that group,” said a senior Congress leader from Delhi, according to The Telegraph.Also read: An Open Letter to Shashi Tharoor—Whose Decision to Run for Congress President Could Help the Party, and the GandhisFrom time to time, Tharoor’s campaign team lodged complaints with central election committee chairperson Madhusudan Mistry regarding the preferential treatment for Kharge. However, it underscored that it would not withdraw from the election despite Congress leaders wanting Tharoor to help make it a unanimous election in favour of Kharge.“Mr. Tharoor is contesting this election to win. But even if he doesn’t win, the quantum of votes that he gets is also equally important. If he manages to get 12% of votes like Sharad Pawar got in the 1997 election against Sitaram Kesri, we shall know that his candidature has made a significant difference,” a member of Team Tharoor told Hindu.Meanwhile, the Tharoor campaign committee on Thursday alleged major discrepancies with the list of delegates handed over to them by the central election committee of the party. On September 30, when he filed his nomination, he said he had received a list of delegates but there were no addresses or phone numbers, making it difficult for his team to reach out to delegates.After lodging a complaint with the poll authority, he said he had another list, however, 500 delegates went missing from the list compared to the previous one he had received after nomination.“There were incomplete contact details in the list of delegates that we received. Some lists had names but no contact numbers, some had names but no proper addresses. Hence, it was difficult to reach out to them,” Tharoor said, according to The HinduAround 9,000 delegates from various state Congress units will cast their vote on Monday, October 17. The results will be announced on Wednesday, October 19.