BJP and Congress were in a head-to-head contest on 76 seats. These results underscore Congress’s ongoing struggles in electoral battles against the BJP.
New Delhi: The Congress party once again faltered in the recent Maharashtra Assembly elections, despite contesting as a part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance with Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar’s NCP. Despite lofty promises, Congress maintained its poor track record when directly competing with its chief rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This pattern was evident in the elections, where Congress faced the BJP in 76 constituencies but managed to win only 10 seats. In contrast, the BJP, despite dealing with anti-incumbency, delivered a strong performance, securing 66 seats and decisively outpacing Congress in their head-to-head contests.
These results underscore Congress’s ongoing struggles in electoral battles against the BJP. The BJP’s strong leadership, effective strategies, and widespread public support have consistently given it an edge, with the recent Maharashtra elections serving as a prime example of Congress’s challenges in countering its rival. Apart from Maharashtra, Congress also faced setbacks in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections as well.
In Maharashtra, Congress and BJP faced off in 76 constituencies. Congress’s poor performance was underscored by the fact that it failed to secure even second place in seven of these seats. In terms of overall vote share, Congress secured about 12%, while the BJP garnered nearly 27%. However, when focusing on the seats each party contested, the BJP achieved an average vote share of 51.5% per seat, compared to Congress’s 34.7%.
In the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had recorded an average vote share of 44.88% per seat contested, marking a 6-percentage-point increase in the Assembly elections. Congress, which had won 44 seats in the 2019 Assembly elections and 13 of the 17 Lok Sabha seats it contested this year, saw a significant decline. While Congress secured 47.77% of the vote share per seat contested in the Lok Sabha polls and 16.92% of the total vote share, its vote share per seat dropped by 14-percentage- points within a few months, reflecting a sharp decline in its performance.
Out of the 16 seats Congress won in Maharashtra, 9 came from the Vidarbha region. In Vidarbha, Congress and BJP faced off in 36 constituencies, with Congress winning only eight, while BJP dominated by securing 28 seats, underscoring its stronghold in the region. Comparatively, in 2019, the two parties contested 31 seats in Vidarbha, with BJP winning 23 and Congress winning 8.
Beyond Vidarbha, Congress managed to win just one seat in a direct contest with BJP in North Maharashtra and another in the Mumbai suburban region, which falls under the Konkan region. Additionally, Congress secured six seats in contests against the Shinde-led Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP. It defeated the Shinde-led Sena in Shrirampur, Mumbadevi, and Dharavi, won Risod and Navapur against independent candidates, and clinched Palus-Kadegaon in a friendly contest with Sharad Pawar’s NCP.
Congress’s poor performance was further highlighted by its failure to secure even second place in seven of the 76 constituencies where it faced the BJP in a direct contest. These constituencies were Vasai, Chandvad, Bhiwandi West, Aurangabad East, Nalasopara, Achalpur, and Solapur City Central.
In Bhiwandi West, the BJP won by a margin of over 31,000 votes against the SP, which finished second, while an independent candidate took third place. Congress came in fourth, trailing the BJP by more than 48,000 votes. In Solapur City Central, the BJP defeated AIMIM by over 48,000 votes, with Congress finishing third, nearly 93,000 votes behind the BJP.
In Vasai, the BJP edged out the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) by more than 3,000 votes, while Congress placed third. In Aurangabad East, the BJP narrowly defeated AIMIM by just over 2,000 votes. Congress finished third, likely losing the Muslim votes to AIMIM. In Chandvad, Congress dropped to fourth, trailing the winning BJP, runner-up Prahar Janshakti Party, and an independent candidate. Congress lagged behind the BJP by more than 81,000 votes.
In Nalasopara, Congress finished fourth, trailing the BJP by nearly 1.5 lakh votes. The BVA and Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) claimed second and third places, respectively. In Achalpur, in a supposed direct contest between BJP and Congress, the BJP won by over 12,000 votes. The Prahar Janshakti Party emerged as the runner-up, pushing Congress to third place.