The Congress leadership was aware it was losing ground to the ruling Mahayuti following the gains made during the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra, several party leaders privy to an internal survey less than a month ahead of the November 20 elections have said, adding that the outcome shouldn't exactly come as a shock.
As per a report in The Indian Express, several party leaders it spoke to admitted that a survey conducted in 103 "strong MVA seats" showed the Maha Vikas Aghadi ahead in only 44 seats out of 54 it was ahead in during the Lok Sabha elections.
On the contrary, the Mahayuti, which was ahead in 49 seats in the Lok Sabha polls, was then leading in 56 seats.
According to the survey, the Mahayuti's Ladki Bahin Yojana had a significant impact in the Mahayuti's turnaround after it was restricted to just 18 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats barely six months ago.
As per the IE report, around 88 percent of the 57,309 respondents to the survey said they were aware of the Ladki Bahin Yojana, 82 percent said there was a beneficiary of the scheme in their family and 17 percent said their voting preference has changed because of the scheme.
“We knew that we were dipping. Towards the end, we had a fair idea that they (Mahayuti) were ahead. But the scale of their victory and our defeat did surprise us,” the report quoted a Congress leader with access to the surveys as saying.
As per the survey, the MVA was seen ahead only among Muslims while the Mahayuti had brushed off its Lok Sabha reversals among all other segments. Notably, the survey clearly pointed out that the Mahayuti was ahead among all other segments, including General, OBCs, SBC, SC, SEBC, and STs. The Mahayuti was also seen ahead among all age groups of voters, particularly the women and youth.
A Congress leader the paper spoke to was also critical of the Congress' insistence to blame EVMs for the loss and termed the strategy a convenient "face-saver" for the state and national leadership.
“The leadership knew that the MVA was struggling to sustain the Lok Sabha gains…that among the women voters…the support for the Mahayuti was on the rise…the data was before the leadership…but we are still blaming the EVMs. It suits both the state leaders and the national leadership. It is a face-saving explanation for both,” said a leader.
A meeting of the Congress Working Committee scheduled to be held on Friday is likely to pass a resolution to take forward its skepticism of Electronic Voting Machines. The party has demanded that elections return to paper ballots. A plea in this regard was recently dismissed by the Supreme Court.
In the election results declared on November 23, the Congress registered its worst performance in the state, managing to secure just 16 seats in Maharashtra. The Shiv Sena (UBT) bagged 20 while the NCP(SP) won 10 seats.
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