MP Rahul Gandhi
Chhatrapa, who is a member of the Indian Union, does not seem to have given many seats to the Congress. This is why the Congress had to “take a sip of poison” and compromise on the Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Jharkhand seats. The seat-sharing formula was decided after a two-day marathon meeting of the Congress-led Indian alliance known as Maha Vikas Aghadi in the Maharashtra assembly elections. The seat allocation between Congress and JMM in Jharkhand has been finalized. In this way, the Congress suffered its biggest setback in seat distribution from Maharashtra to Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.
The Congress had hoped to contest five seats in Uttar Pradesh through by-elections but ended up empty-handed. In Maharashtra Congress, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar’s National Congress Party (NCP) have agreed to Elections will be held for equal seats. In Maharashtra, the Congress could not even cross the 100-seat mark, while in Jharkhand, the Congress had to fight for fewer seats than in the last assembly election. In Jharkhand and Maharashtra, the Congress has never contested elections on so few seats. The question is where Congress seems to stand today due to the political compulsion of the alliance.
Congress returns empty-handed
There are 10 assembly seats vacant in Uttar Pradesh, of which by-elections are ongoing in nine seats. Led by the Indian Union, the Congress party proposed by-elections to five seats occupied by the Bharatiya Janata Party, LDF and Nishad Party. The SP gave only two seats to the Congress, namely Ghaziabad and Khel. The Congress does not consider these two seats comfortable for itself as the Khel seat has not been won in 44 years and the Ghaziabad seat has not been won in 22 years. Even from an SP perspective, these two seats have never looked better. In this scenario, the Congress withdrew its candidacy from Kher and Ghaziabad seats, while the Samajwadi Party will contest in all nine seats.
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Congress and the Socialist Party unite
SP president Akhilesh Yadav wrote in a post on X late on Wednesday night that this is not about winning seats. According to this strategy, the joint candidates of the “India Alliance” will contest elections in all 9 seats of the SP election mark “cycle”. Congress and the Socialist Party are united and shoulder to shoulder. The Indian Alliance will surely write a new chapter of victory in this by-election. With the Congress coming together from the top leadership to booth-level functionaries, the SP’s strength has increased manifold. This way, the Congress will not contest even a single seat in the by-elections.
Congress takes heavy blow in Maharashtra
Congress suffered a major setback over the seat-sharing issue of the Indian alliance in Maharashtra. Out of the total 288 seats in the state, the Indian Union has entered into seat-sharing agreements for 255 seats. A plan has been drawn up between the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar’s National Congress Party, which belongs to the Indian Union, to contest elections in 85-85 seats, but no agreement has yet been reached on 33 seat to decide. Addressing a joint press conference of the Indian Union, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said that we will contest the elections as an alliance. So far we have discussed 270 seats and agreed on a formula of 85-85-85 seats. We will talk to other colleagues tomorrow and the remaining seats will be cleared by then.
Plans to run for 105-110 seats
Buoyed by the Lok Sabha election results, the Congress hoped to play the role of Big Brother in the Indian alliance, but all hopes were dashed by the political moves of Uddhav and Sharad Pawar. Although the Congress originally planned to contest 105 to 110 seats, it was unable to cross even 100 seats. In 2009, 170 seats were contested in Congress, and in 2014, 287 seats were contested. In 2019, 147 seats were contested in Congress. Thus, the Congress will try its luck in this Maharashtra election and get the lowest number of seats in its political history.
Congress has to compromise on Jharkhand
In the Jharkhand Assembly elections, the Congress has to contest from fewer seats than last time. The Congress had contested for 31 seats in 2019, but this time it won 30 seats. There are one fewer seats in the congressional race than in the last election. In the Indian alliance in Jharkhand, the JMM plays the role of the elder brother and the Congress party plays the role of the younger brother. Of the total 81 seats in the Jharkhand Assembly, the JMM will contest on 41 seats, the Congress on 30 seats, the RJD on 6 seats and the MLAs on 4 seats. The Congress has never contested elections from so few seats in Jharkhand.
Congress reluctantly hopes for alliance
Congress went into this election with the smallest number of seats in its political history so far. Even in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress had to compromise because of the alliance, and in the Assembly elections, the Congress surrendered to the Chhatrapa family again. With Narendra Modi entering politics at the Centre, the Congress party has become completely weak. Not only the power of the nation, but also that of the states, was lost from the hands of Congress. Following the Congress party’s defeat in the Haryana elections, allies in the Indian alliance began to question this. Hence, Congress had to make compromises from Maharashtra to Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.
