Congress sees a silver lining in poll defeat in 3 states, its vote share not much lower than BJP

Congress said that the vote share of Congress in the three states is only slightly lower than that of the BJP but there is a huge difference in the number of seats won by both the parties. The AICC functionaries also said that although the party lost in three states, it does not mean that INDIA alliance will be defeated in 2024 because there are past instances where despite losing these states, parties formed the government in the Centre, writes ETV Bharat's Amit Agnihotri.

New Delhi:The Congress on Monday said that the poll results in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh raises hopes for revival since its vote share in the three states is not much lower compared to the BJP.

“One thing is very interesting in the poll results of the three states. Our vote share is close to that of the BJP and we are around 40 per cent in all these states. But the difference in the number of seats won by both the parties is huge. This is something puzzling. But the ground situation offers us hopes for revival,” AICC secretary in charge of Gujarat BM Sandeep Kumar told ETV Bharat.

“The vote share figures tell a different story of Congress not being very far behind the BJP. In fact, we are within a striking distance. In Chhattisgarh, the BJP's vote share is 46.3 per cent against 42.2 per cent of the Congress while in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP's vote share is 48.6 per cent against 40.4 per cent of Congress and in Rajasthan the BJP's vote share is 41.7 per cent against 39.5 per cent of the Congress,” said Kumar.

AICC secretary in charge of Chhattisgarh Chandan Yadav concurred saying the results were surprising in many ways. “It seems a new kind of scientific polling is happening as the results in the three Hindi belt states were quite contrary to the public sentiment that prevailed and got reflected through various mediums,” Yadav said ETV Bharat.

The AICC functionary pointed out that in Chhattisgarh, the BJP polled around 72 lakh votes against 66 lakhs of the Congress, in Rajasthan the BJP polled around 1.65 crore votes against 1.56 crore of the Congress and in Madhya Pradesh the BJP polled 2.11 crore votes against 1.75 crore of the Congress.

“This shows that we are close to the BJP in the three states as far as votes polled are concerned. But this data does not match with the seat conversion percentage,” said Yadav.

Both Kumar and Yadav noted that the numbers should provide solace to the leaders and workers but stressed the need for a revamp of the respective state teams. “Of course, we need to revamp the organisation and let aggressive leaders take charge as it happened in Telangana,” said Kumar.

The two AICC functionaries said the 2023 Assembly election results should not dishearten party workers as it could definitely be good in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

“The Congress had lost the three states in 2003 and won only in Delhi but came to power at the Centre in 2004 when the UPA government was formed. Later, the BJP lost the three states in 2018 but came to power at the Centre in 2019. Likewise, the Congress has lost the states in 2023 but the INDIA alliance can win in 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” said Kumar.

“The effort now should be to work with our allies and do well in the big states. Our success in Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana should not be lost. We created Telangana in 2013 but have won only now,” he said.

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