The Congress Party adopts different strategies for Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. The Congress party capitalises Lok Sabha elections to expand its support base at the cost of its allies. The reason is that the Lok Sabha elections are Congress party specific and Rahul Gandhi is the Prime Ministerial candidate. So the Congress party will go for a friendly contest with its allies in the Lok Sabha election. While on the other hand in the Assembly elections the Congress party adopts different yardstick and prefers for friendly contests with its allies too. The Congress party goes for a friendly contest with its allies to weaken the support base of its allies. The Congress party in the Assembly elections put candidates against its allies the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference in UT of Jammu and Kashmir and against the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the CPI in the State of Bihar. Even in Jharkahnd the Congress party put candidates against its allies too.
In the Assembly election of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which was conducted in 2024, the Congress Party forged an alliance with its long term ally the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference. However, despite the alliance, the Congress Party fielded candidates against the JK National Conference on seven Assembly constituencies. The Congress Party fielded candidates against the National Conference on Sopore, Baramulla, Devsar, Bhaderwah, Doda, Banihal and Nagrota Assembly constituencies. Among these seats only on Banihal Assembly seat the Congress party was able to save its deposit. Despite friendly contests, the National Conference managed to win four of these seven Assembly seats.
In the Bihar Assembly elections the Congress led Mahagathbandhan witnessed friendly contests on 12 seats. Of the 12 seats the Congress party was in a friendly contest on most of the seats against the RJD and the CPI. The Congress party put candidates against the RJD on five seats. These seats were Vaishali, Kahalgaon, Sultanganj, Narkatiaganj and Sikandra (SC). On Kargahar, Raja Pakar, Bachhwara and Biharsharif Assembly seats, the Congress party fielded candidates against its ally, the Communist Party of India. The Congress party’s deposit was forfeited on the seats on which the Congress party pitted itself against the RJD. The forfeiting of its deposit on these seats against the RJD sends a clear message that the Congress party should have given these seats to the RJD instead of contesting itself.
The Congress Party did not field candidates against the National Conference and the RJD in the Lok Sabha elections, while fielding candidates in the Assembly elections clearly indicates that the Congress Party aims to weaken its allies so that they remain depend on the Congress Party.
The Congress Party blackmails its allies and secures more seats to contest. In the Bihar Assembly elections the Congress Party almost took nearly double seats than its mass base against the wishes of the RJD. This clearly indicates that the Congress Party was not fighting the elections with any intention of winning. The Congress Party followed the same strategy in Jammu and Kashmir, where it contested on 38 seats. In Jammu and Kashmir too the Congress party solicited nearly double seats than its original political mass base. These are the ploy of the Congress Party to improve its performance at the cost of its allies.
The Congress party allies are now becoming aware of the strategy of the Congress party. The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference now appears closer to the BJP than to the Congress Party. In Bihar, the RJD has stopped mentioning the Congress Party after the election results. Many RJD leaders are of the firm opinion that if the party had sidelined the Congress Party and contested the elections with other smaller allies, it would have been in a stronger position. Following the Bihar election results, the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh has also begun distancing itself from the Congress Party. The future is likely to be even more difficult for the Congress Party.
Not only that, the Congress party also do not go seriously for the election campaigning. During the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, the JKNC supremo Farooq Abdullah accused Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party of campaigning in the Kashmir Valley, a stronghold of the National Conference, instead of campaigning in its stronghold of the Jammu division from where the Congress party was also contesting more seats in the Jammu region. In Bihar too Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party campaigned only on the piggyback of Tejaswi Yadav and the RJD.
