The allies of the Congress party within its I.N.D.I Alliance have cornered it. The Congress party is continuously losing its space in the public domain and with its allies, too. The Congress party, which contested 421 seats, is compelled to contest only 329 seats in 2024, which is a big setback to the party. The allies of the Congress party don’t pay even slight respect to the party in seat sharing. The Congress party is contesting 92 seats less in 2024 than it contested in 2019. The number of such seats would come down if the Congress party went into a proper alliance with the parties of the I.N.D.I Alliance. In Kerala, Punjab and in West Bengal, the I.N.D.I Alliance was completely broken.
The Congress party should come clean on seat allocation to its candidates. The Congress party declined ticket to its Barpeta sitting MP Abdul Khaleque who won the seat by margin of 140307 votes while it gave ticket to its defeated candidate from Amethi in 2019 by margin of nearly 55000 votes from Rae Bareli.
Considering its performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the Congress party should give more seats to its allies. In 2019, the Congress party contested 421 seats and lost its deposit on 148 seats. The Congress party saved its deposit only on 273 seats. So, as a serious and responsible player, the Congress party should give more seats to its allies.
It is the desire of the BJP that the Congress party should contest more seats, as the BJP won more than half of the seats in 2014 and 2019 by contesting against the Congress party. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the Congress party and the BJP were in direct contest on 189 seats, and the BJP won 166 seats of these. The BJP won 282 seats in 2014, and nearly 60 per cent of the seats it won were against the Congress party. In 2019, the BJP and the Congress party were in direct contest on 190 seats, and the BJP won 175 of the seats. In 2019, the BJP won 303 seats and about 58 per cent of seats against the Congress party.
The main reason for the Congress party to contest on less seats is consistent poor performance in state as well as in Lok Sabha elections. The Congress party’s number of seats to contest is declining election after election. In the 2009 Lok Sabha election, the Congress party contested 440 seats. In 2014, the Congress party contested 464 seats, which came down to 421 seats in 2019. The number further decreased to 329 in 2024. The Congress party is on a path to oblivion. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the Congress party was in a direct contest on only 261 seats, less than the majority mark for forming a Government. The Congress party should understand the public sentiment by its electoral verdicts. In 2009, the Congress party won 206 seats by contesting 440 seats, while in 2014, the party contested 464 seats but won only 44 seats. The results show that the Congress party should improve its candidate choice and connect with the masses besides contesting the number of seats.
The Congress party is not taking any lessons from its debacles. The Congress party denied the ticket to Barpeta Lok Sabha seat MP Abdul Khaleque who won the seat by margin of 140307 votes in 2019 while it renominated its defeated candidate from Amethi Rahul Gandhi from neighbouring seat of Raebareli. There was no allegation against Abdul Khaleque in the public domain. In spite of severe defeat after defeat the Congress party is refusing to take lessons.
