Did Congress ditching the INDIA alliance and going solo cost it severely?

A year after making a strong comeback in Himachal Pradesh and scripting history recently in Karnataka Congress’s decision to ditch INDIA and go Solo cost it three important States despite being too close to victory.

The outcome of five state Electoral verdicts in the country glued the people to their popular social media and news channels since early morning today. 

Riding on the strong anti-incumbency and divided house BJP performed better in the three Hindi heartland states including Madhyapradesh. Congress party went solo without bothering the party’s current track record of debacle after debacle and seemed to be misjudged electoral victory of Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka. 

Barring Telangana Congress party’s arithmetic failed to get a tangible response from electoral in the three states however people across the country are expecting the grand old party to make a comeback but it miserably misjudged its popularity and worst track record to connecting with the people.

Despite having a Congress government in two states BJP wrestled power from it under the nose but BJP’s control of media, resources, money, elections, and government machinery is no match to Congress.

Congress did not commit suicide by going solo as it could secure about 40 pc votes on its own. The Election data listed by the election commission website indicates that it was neck to neck between BJP v/s INDIA baring BSP.  However, a gap of four to five percent in several seats slipped the Congress victory in three states despite its performance on 50 percent seats being overwhelming. The difference of seats between victory and loss may have waffler thin margin of percentage.

BSP helped the BJP as it snatched two to three percent votes from the city of India and in all three states BSP emerged as a stronger third force barring Independent and rebels.

The margin of victory and loss may force Congress to learn from the debacle as a possible victory in the Lok Sabha election. In Rajsthan Congress can do better despite it has fractured opposition. BJP used every tramp card to regain power in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan however the victory challenged the hegemony of the Modi-Saha duo as BJP could make a return by using many old horses and iconic national leaders by downgrading their political profile.

 BJP victory in Rajasthan under the leadership of Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Chauhan reminds us of the 2017 Himachal Pradesh assembly elections when Prem Kumar Dhumal was made campaign leader and later was forced to go on political asylum. Do Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Chauhan have the same fate? The victory of Shivraj Chauhan was attributed to some popular schemes and his public apology for the bad reputation earned by party upper caste leaders.

The Election results appeared to be unexpected however postponed election results in Mizoram also helped the BJP victory larger than life. The victory of the BJP could be attributed to parties tempo to not give up till the last minute. 

The Election could not be termed fully neutral at least in BJP victory in Madhya Pradesh. Elections in the five states also forced the BJP to focus on the three major states and least bother in the rest two. The political Pandit in Himachal Pradesh states that it is not just the Semifinal for LS-2024 but a pre-trial for 2024 as its agenda is also to focus on the state having more LS seats in its Kitty which it could not afford to lose.

States with a lesser number of LS seats and going to Vidhansabha are not on the property agenda of the Modi-Saha dispensation keeping their grip on the pulse of electoral on which they are relying. 

Congress’s continued reliance on old party election strategies and second-rung outdated leaders forced it into an unexpected debacle in the three states despite being compared to other INDIAN alliance parties who couldn’t retain their existing performance. 

The verdict of three assembly elections set an alarm clock for Congress as like  AICC it must hold election in the PCC and should retire old horses from the departure lounge. 

Congress did not have any match to BJP’s election strategies and resources however it should learn from the adversaries to force those to retire from the party working committees who are not fit in the present scenario.