Delhi polls: Congress is third time 'unlucky'. Factors that may have led to yet another wipeout

Rahul Gandhi

If the exit polls served as indicator of Congress' depleting fortunes in the national capital, the trends on Saturday just reinforced the party's predicament in state politics. After multiple rounds of counting, and lead beginning to solidify marking a grand comeback for the Saffron party, the grand old party seem to be staring at an uncertain future as it failed to open its account for a third successive time. The party was hoping to make a comeback in constituencies with a sizeable Muslim population.

Despite staying in power for 15 years from 1998 to 2013, and more recently than the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress only secured eight seats in the 2013 elections and none in the 2015 and 2020 elections.

The last time Congress opened its account in Delhi was in the 2013 assembly elections when it won eight seats. The party had secured a vote share of 24.55 per cent, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got a 33.07 per cent vote share and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) 29.49 per cent.

Marginal increase in vote share:

Despite a marginal increase (plus two percentage points) in vote share form 2020 polls, the Congress has failed to make any significant gains in terms of seats. With extensive campaigning during the last few days, party leaders and functionaries hoped for increased representation and a jump in vote share.

How gains from Nyay Yatra were undone by internal factionalism:

The cancellation of half-a-dozen rallies supposed to be addressed by Rahul Gandhi may have further dented the image of a party that was expecting to make a mark on the gains of Nyay Yatra in December, we did in December seemed to be hugely popular among people. People were seeing Congress on ground, working for the people after a long time. However, the lack of popular senior faces throught the campaign was noticeable. Despite the last-minute push from leaders including Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the results remain sombre.

A quick recap of 2015, 2020 mandate:

In 2020, Congress contested 66 seats and 63 of its candidates had to forfeit their security deposits. Only Arvinder Singh Lovely from Gandhi Nagar, Devender Yadav from Badli and Abhishek Dutt from Kasturba Nagar had managed to save their deposits. In 2015, the party contested on all seats but failed to won even a single a single seat and its 62 candidates lost deposits. The Congress, however, believed the party has to claw back in states to revive nationally. For Delhi, it feels, that means knocking out the AAP.

Congress leaders react: 

Amid the ongoing results, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra remarked that she had not checked the results yet, reflecting the uncertainty within her party. Congress leader Vishesh Tokas, however, expressed confidence in the party’s ability to play a pivotal role in the formation of the government, claiming that Congress would be the “king-maker” in the election and that no government could be formed without its support. Congress candidate Sandeep Dikshit from the New Delhi constituency stated, “At this point, it looks like the BJP will form the government. We raised important issues, but it seems the people felt we wouldn’t be able to form the government. We respect people decision.”