The Congress party, which ruled Delhi for 15 consecutive years until 2013, has once again failed to secure a single seat in the 70-member Delhi Assembly. This marks its third straight electoral wipeout, despite a slight increase in vote share. While the party’s presence remained minimal, its performance had a direct impact on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), leading to its defeat in at least 13 seats where Congress candidates secured more votes than the margin by which AAP lost.
In an interview with the Indian Express, Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav admitted that the party’s continued absence in the Assembly was a setback but insisted that there was a silver lining. “We couldn’t enter the Delhi Assembly for the third consecutive term… that is definitely a personal loss for us, but we were able to build a perception that it was a three-way contest and not just between AAP and BJP,” he said.
But this time, the zero that we secured is much different from the zero that we secured last time, he said. The reason being that after this election, Yadav is hopeful that they be able to win back the loyalties of our core voters, which identified as Dalits, minorities, and underprivileged sections.
The people have shown renewed confidence in us, reflected in the 2 percentage point increase in our vote share, without the inclusion of Dalit and minority votes, he said. "As I have always maintained, AAP will eventually be reduced to zero, and this election nearly proved that," he told the Indian Express.
He further said that the their biggest challenge was their inability to effectively convey to these communities that we were the better alternative. Since AAP held 62 seats before the election, many Dalits and minorities believed that backing them was the only way to stop the BJP, he explained.
Alliance with AAP was a mistake, says Congress
Yadav acknowledged that the Lok Sabha alliance between Congress and AAP had negatively impacted the party’s prospects in Delhi. “100%… that has damaged our prospects. It was a big fault on our part, and as a result, we have had to settle for zero,” he admitted.
Despite the poor showing, Congress saw a 2% increase in its vote share, which Yadav credited to the party’s grassroots cadre. He emphasized that the focus would now shift to strengthening the organization and raising key issues affecting Delhi.
Analyzing AAP’s defeat, Yadav pointed to strong anti-incumbency, lack of infrastructural development, corruption charges, and poor governance as key reasons. He criticized former CM Arvind Kejriwal for refusing to resign even after being jailed in corruption cases, which he said led to administrative stagnation in Delhi.
“The entire Capital suffered due to a lack of governance. Secondly, the ‘common man’ image that Kejriwal built when he entered politics was demolished because he constructed a Sheesh Mahal’ for himself,” Yadav added.
On BJP’s landslide win, Yadav claimed that the saffron party merely benefitted from AAP’s downfall. “Both AAP and BJP are two sides of the same coin. The heavy anti-incumbency against AAP automatically translated into BJP’s victory,” he said.
He also noted that Congress could have been a serious contender if Dalit and Muslim voters, who make up around 32-34% of Delhi’s electorate, had supported the party. “If they had backed us, the results would have been very different,” he asserted.
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