About a dozen perceived non-party candidates received congressional tickets in the recently concluded assembly elections in Bihar, a move that angered loyalists who refused to campaign at the polls, people familiar with the matter said.
And all of these “outside” candidates failed to win their elections, lowering the congressional count to 19 and, in the process, diminishing the chances of the Opposition Grand Alliance (GA) to topple the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA). power. The party fought in 70 seats, meaning its strike rate of 27% was the worst among the major parties in the state.
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Apart from the marginalization of the state leadership, the election of seats, the poor selection of candidates, the weak organizational structure, the delayed sharing agreement, the unimpressive campaign and the lack of coordination with the alliance partners have been identified. as key reasons for the poor performance of the Congress party in the elections.
In reaction to the survey result, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters on Thursday that the CWC will review the situation and present an official statement on the elections. “We accept the verdict and we are disappointed with our performance. But remember that Bihar is the poorest state in India. Mr. Narendra Modi has been Prime Minister since 2014 and Mr. Nitish Kumar has been Prime Minister since 2005, but Bihar is the poorest state in India, ”he said.
But the problems manifested themselves several weeks ago.
Shortly after Congress published its first list of candidates on October 15, vociferous protests broke out in Bihar with party workers alleging irregularities in ticket distribution. “Tickets were also given to corrupt and incompetent candidates,” said a congressional official, who asked not to be named.
The protests led to the former president of Congress, Rahul Gandhi, intervening and forming different panels to monitor the party’s electoral strategy.
The core teams took full control of the electoral management of the state unit and even devised the party’s campaign strategy. This move angered local leaders and they took a backseat, hampering election preparations and the party’s campaign.
Congressional leader Kesar Singh said the party’s high command should take disciplinary action against those who lobbied for the selection of outsiders. He also said that no state committee was formed after Bihar’s then-head of Congress Ashok Chaudhary left the party to join Janata Dal (United) in 2017. “The leadership of Congress should activate state unity and make the fight is adequate for the next elections, “he said. additional
The Bihar in charge of the party is Shaktisinh Gohil.
A second congressional official said, on condition of anonymity, that the party insisted on the “quantity” rather than the “quality” of seats in its negotiations with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
He said that the RJD had initially offered about 50 seats to Congress after conducting a poll of all 243 electoral districts.
But congressional leaders insisted on 100 seats and even threatened to withdraw from the GA. Finally, the president of the Congress, Sonia Gandhi, had to intervene and convey to the RJD leadership that her party would not settle for less than 70 seats.
The RJD yielded to the demand and awarded Congress 70 seats. While the RJD decided to fight for 144 seats, it awarded 29 seats to the three left-wing parties. The RJD was the largest party with 75 seats, and the three left-wing parties performed remarkably well, winning 16 seats.
Congressional leaders were satisfied that they were granted difficult seats and lost most of them to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). However, an evaluation suggests that the party also lost a substantial number of contests to JD (U) and smaller parties.
Congressional leader and former MP Tariq Anwar admitted that his party emerged as the “weakest link” in Mahagathbandhan.
Of the 51 seats that Congress lost, BJP won 29, JD (U) 17, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) from Asaduddin Owaisi and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) from former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi two each , and that of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
Patna-based political analyst Ajay Kumar Jha said good candidates are not attracted to Congress because of its weak organizational structure. “Congress lacks credible candidates and so it is looking for outsiders,” he said.
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