The Congress party’s dwindling political space is a matter of deep research. Election by election since 2009, the Congress party’s stake as the main contender for Lok Sabha seats is decreasing. In 2009, the Congress party was in a direct contest on 347 seats. In the 2009 Lok Sabha poll, the Congress party won 206 seats while it was a runner on 141 seats. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress party was in a contest on only 268 seats. In the 2014 Lok Sabha poll, the Congress party won 44 seats only and was runner on 224 seats. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress party was in a contest on only 261 seats. In the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, the Congress party won 52 seats and was a runner on 209 seats.
The State of affairs of the Congress party can be gauged from the fact that the party had not been able to open its account in 12 States/UTs in two successive Lok Sabha polls of 2014 and 2019. These States are Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, NCT of Delhi, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, and Uttarakhand. Before the merger of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, the number was 13.
Election by election since 2009, the forfeiture of deposit by the Congress party in the Lok Sabha poll is also a concern for the party. In 2009, the Congress party lost 16 per cent of the seats it contested. The Congress party lost a deposit on 71 seats by contesting on 440 seats. In the 2014 Lok Sabha poll, the Congress party lost a deposit of 178 seats by contesting 464 seats. In the 2014 Lok Sabha poll, the Congress party lost a deposit of 38.36 per cent of seats. In the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, the Congress party lost a deposit of 35 per cent of votes. In 2019, the Congress party lost a deposit on 148 seats by contesting 421 seats. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress party got votes in single digits on 147 seats. While in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, the Congress party’s vote share was in the single digits on 127 seats.
Under such poor performance of the Congress party, it’s extremely tough for the I.N.D.I Alliance to share seats. While the Congress party would try to contest more seats, the allies would try to grab more seats from the Congress party to contest. As per the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, the Congress party saved its deposit on only 273 seats. The Congress party allies will try to minimise the no. of seats allotted to the Congress party. The Congress party won nearly 39 per cent of its seats in 2014 from two States, Kerala and Karnataka. In 2019, the Congress party won 60 per cent of its seats from three States: Punjab, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, while the BJP got more than 50 per cent of votes on 224 seats, the Congress party got such a feat on 20 seats.
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