Delhi assembly elections: Congress' third consecutive drought in city

The Congress was decimated in the Delhi elections on Saturday failing to open its account in the 70member assembly for a third consecutive time and its key candidates suffering crushing defeatsThe only consolation however was a slight improvement in the partys vote share with leaders proclaiming that they would win back the trust of the people and exuded confidence of forming its government in 2030An early one segment lead in Badli was soon lost and the party now a pale shadow of its glorious past under late chief minister Sheila Dikshit failed to open its account once againHer son Sandeep Dikshit finished third in New Delhi segment where BJPs Parvesh Sahib Verma defeated AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal by over 3000 votes While Verma polled 25057 votes and Kejriwal 22057 Dikshit gathered just 3873 in a shock culmination of the Sheila Dikshit legacy Sheila Dikshit was the chief minister of Delhi for three termsA majority of Congress candidates lost their deposits and only three of them managed to save them These include Abhishek Dutt from Kasturba Nagar who was the only Congress leader to finish second Rohit Choudhary from Nangloi Jat and Devendra Yadav from BadliMost Congress candidates finished third after BJP or AAP but in some even finished fourth after the AIMIM where they had put up its candidates in Muslim dominates segmentsCongress heavyweights were decimated state unit chief Devender Yadav ended up third in Badli Mahila Congress president Alka Lamba finished third in Kalkaji where Chief Minister Atishi won former minister Haroon Yusuf was third in Ballimaran which he represented five times between 1993 to 2013Congress scripted the same story of losses everywhere with only one tiny consolation of a 21 per cent improvement in vote share over 2020The party polled 639 per cent of the valid votes as against 43 per cent in the 2020 assembly polls massively denting its INDIA bloc partner Aam Aadmi Party across segmentsAAPs vote share loss was massive down from 536 per cent in 2020 to 4319 per cent a drop of over ten per centThe Congress managed to play a spoiler for the AAP which suffered heavily in Scheduled Caste and Muslimdominated segments where Congress made minor gains at AAPs cost and BJPs advantageAur lado aapas mein Keep on fighting each other National Conference leader and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah posted on X with a meme in an apparent jibe at the AAP and the CongressAur lado aapas mein httpstcof3wbM1DYxk pictwittercom8Yu9WK4k0cmdash Omar Abdullah OmarAbdullah February 8 2025The decimation of the Congress and its role of a spoiler are bound to impact the unity of an alreadyfragile INDIA bloc whose partners have been at variance over ideological issues and electoral alignments The friction between INDIA bloc partners may be visible in the assembly polls in BiharThe poor show of the Congress in Delhi after Haryana and Maharashtra will also lead to further diminishing of its dominant position in the Opposition blocSo while Congress and AAP had tied up for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Delhi Chandigarh and Haryana they decided to go it alone in DelhiAAP leader Jasmine Shah had on election eve claimed the party was firmly placed in Delhi and didnt need any alliesThe Congress for its part woke up late in Delhi fielding candidates in all 70 seats but primarily focussing on 18 seats where it didnt win but managed to affect the AAP Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also launched a spirited campaign but failed to make any impactThe dismal show under Rahul Gandhi as lead campaigner is bound to further raise question marks on his ability to deliver at the hustings with the BJP likely to sharpen its attack on Congress as a dynastic party focussed on one familyThe Congress meanwhile appears determined to go it alone from here on and leaders say it may have suffered in Delhi but the impact of Delhi battle will be felt in Punjab in 2027 where they say Congress would be the principal beneficiary of disaffection towards the Bhagwant Mannled AAP regimeAICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh claimed the party has increased its vote share and its campaign was vigorous There will be a Congress government once again in Delhi in 2030 he claimedRahul Gandhi has decided that the party must contest on its own mettle even if it takes a while to return where it belongs another senior Congress leader said referring to a slight improvement in partys vote share in DelhiThe Congress vote share fell from 4031 per cent in 2008 the last time Congress formed a government in Delhi to 2455 per cent in 2013 97 per cent in 2015 and 43 per cent in 2020AAP gained at Congress expense taking 296 per cent of votes in 2013 546 per cent in 2015 and 536 per cent in 2020We just recovered part of what we had lost said a party leader adding that this fight shall continueCongress leaders feel that it is a long and uphill battle from now as the party could manage to poll around 58 lakh votes a bit higher than 395 votes polls in 2020 but far from 867 lakh votes in 2015 and 193 crore votes in 2013 when it won 8 seats The Congress had polled 249 crore votes in 2008 when it formed a government winning 43 seatsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever