Just over 1 lakh votes saved Congress from ignominy of getting fewer seats than 2014

If 1,04,475 votes had not gone in favour of Congress in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, the grand old party would have won only 43 seats, i.e., a seat lesser than the number of seats they had won in 2014.

While this increment of 8 seats hasn't made much of a difference in the overall political scene, the data about margin of votes in some constituencies won by Congress reveals more reasons of worry for the party.

As per the Election Commision's data, out of 52 seats won by Congress, nine seats were won with margins of less than 26,000 votes.

In fact, in Andaman and Nicobar constituency, Congress' Kuldeep Rai Sharma managed to win by only 1,407 votes, defeating BJP’s Vishal Jolly.

In Koraput, Odisha, Congress' Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka defeated BJD’s Kausalya Hikaka by just 3,613 votes.

Similarly, 5,219 votes were all it took for Congress' candidate Komatireddy Venkat Reddy to pluck victory from the runner-up TRS candidate Dr. Boora Narsaiah Goud in Telangana.

Voter margins in close-call constituencies where Congress secured victory

These five seats include Palakkad in Kerala and Jalandhar in Punjab - the states where Congress has shown some grit these elections.

The hotly contested elections this year have resulted in a resounding win for the BJP under Narendra Modi but it has thrown more questions for the Congress party to reflect and find out went wrong.

The slim margins suggest that Congress is facing trouble not only from its arch-rival BJP but is consistently failing against strong regional parties as well.