New Delhi: The Congress is planning to send AICC observers to survey 500/ of the 543 parliamentary constituencies across the country before starting seat-sharing talks with the INDIA alliance partners for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
According to party insiders, the observers will survey the ground-level situation across the 500 seats and give feedback to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge to get a national perspective. The survey will help Congress by allowing it to prepare for most of the seats and will let the party hit the ground running on any seat that comes its way as part of seat-sharing.
“We should know the dynamics of most seats across the country. During negotiations, we may get a seat that we have not contested and should not be caught off guard. Even otherwise, we should be in a position to help our ally if needed,” said a CWC member.
According to party insiders, the move to appoint observers follows the appointment of the cluster in charge, who will play a role in selecting potential candidates. The observers may also be asked to assist the cluster heads in the identification of potential candidates and local issues, said party insiders. The move came days before the five-member Congress alliance panel will start interacting with the INDIA alliance parties state-wise to prepare a national-level seat-sharing blueprint.
“There may have been some initial hiccups, but the INDIA alliance seat-sharing talks are moving in the right direction. The exercise will be started and completed within this month,” AICC secretary in-charge of Maharashtra Ashish Dua told ETV Bharat. According to Dua, the opposition alliance is better placed to take on the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls than the perception that the ruling party was creating.
“See, in the 2019 national polls, the BJP’s vote share was 37 per cent when they had peaked in states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, Bihar and Chhattisgarh. This time the key allies like JD-U and Shiv Sena are out. In contrast, the opposition vote share was around 63 per cent but it was not united. The BJP is not going to peak in the states, but if the opposition votes are united, it can have a significant impact on the outcome of the 2024 polls,” said Dua.
According to party insiders, while the Congress has already told the allies Shiv Sena UBT and NCP informally that it should get 23/48 seats in Maharashtra, the party has identified 12/42 potential seats in West Bengal and 12/40 seats in Bihar where the grand old party thinks it has a chance to win. Similarly, the Uttar Pradesh leaders are likely to claim 15/80 seats, said the party insiders. In 2019, the Congress had contested around 421 seats, but won only 52. It had an alliance with RJD in Bihar, JMM in Jharkhand, DMK in Tamil Nadu, JD-S in Karnataka and NCP in Maharashtra. This time, however, the Congress is anchoring the 28-member INDIA alliance.
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