Rahul Gandhi: Crisis of Electoral Relevance
The recent defeat of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in the Maharashtra Assembly elections has shocked many. The election results not only shocked the increasingly weak national opposition but also surprised many. Despite this defeat, Rahul Gandhi seems to have been unfazed by the electoral defeat. Some may even admire his equanimity in defeat, but there is merit in being uncomfortable with such defeats and doing something about it. However, there is no evidence that Gandhi had a winning strategy.
His apathetic attitude was visible during the Gujarat assembly elections in December 2022 when Rahul Gandhi was busy touring India. He seemed to have forgotten the fact that the Congress was on a winning streak in the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections, counting votes like a game of snakes and ladders. On several occasions, like in the game, the Congress crossed the 100 seat mark several times but strangely settled on 77 seats. At that time too, slogans of agitation were raised, although there were many election petitions, nothing came due to the negligent attitude of the Congress leadership. What is particularly surprising is that Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party did not learn anything from the experience of 2017.
As expected, the Congress lost the 2022 Gujarat assembly elections. The results provided ample evidence that the Gujarat model that helped Narendra Modi win national elections was fading and the people of the state were desperate to break free from the BJP’s death grip. As mentioned above, while the Congress was busy on the Bharat Jodo Yatra, “Isn’t Gujarat also a part of India?” Was Rahul Gandhi’s withdrawal from the 2022 election coincidental or deliberate? This question should be answered.
Why Congress seems to have handed over Gujarat to BJP in 2022? However, Rahul did not even campaign. It was like fighting a war without a commander without leading an army. It seems clear that the Congress could not complete the record set by Modi in 1985 by winning 149 seats without the help of the BJP. As Rahul Gandhi showed the discontent cultivated in Gujarat, the party did not disappoint. In the 2017 elections, the Congress fell from a high of 77 seats to just 17 seats, with the BJP setting a record with 156 seats.
The question is why a good performance for Congress one time and not another time. Why is it difficult to maintain your support among the people and legislators? For example, in the 2022 Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, the Congress won 40 out of 68 seats. However, in the February 2024 Rajya Sabha elections, Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi lost in a tie. Similarly, the Congress governments in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan failed to function in the last Lok Sabha elections as well.
In Telangana, the Congress won 64 out of 119 seats in 2023, securing a 39.4% vote share. However, in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress and the BJP tied with 8/8 seats, but in the assembly elections, the BJP got only 13.9% of the votes. What is the electoral logic in this? Why is this pattern of stark mismatch only in states where Congress-BJP are in direct competition? How will the ruling party manage it? Did the Congress try to figure out how the BJP got so many seats with such a low vote percentage?
Rahul Gandhi constantly criticizes Adani, accusing it of exploiting citizens’ rights, but remains silent when Adani donates Rs 100 crore to the university through Congress Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. Although the donation was later canceled, the discrepancy has raised questions about the party’s strategy and intentions. Many voters must be wondering how Adani is making good investments and financing projects in Congress-ruled states but not while supporting the BJP government. This ambivalence hurts Congress’s star campaigner and his high-profile narrative.
In Maharashtra, Maha Vikas Aghadi won 31 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats but strangely managed to get only 45 out of 288 assembly seats. There is confusion as to why the Congress candidate won the Nanded Lok Sabha seat but lost all the six assembly seats within the same parliamentary constituency. Is it possible for voters to distinguish between parliamentary seats and assembly seats only when BJP contests elections? Could these anomalies have been limited or prevented if Rahul Gandhi had given more importance to Maharashtra elections than Wayanad, where his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra contested?
Was Rahul Gandhi following some unwritten agreement suggesting that the Congress should prioritize alliance partners at its own expense? If so, Rahul must realize that this approach is leading to its marginalization and eventual destruction of the party.
It is indeed time for Rahul Gandhi to stand up and answer the very tough questions of his supporters — many of whom belong to minorities and oppressed classes who heeded his call and supported his party and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the parliamentary elections, which were just around the corner. overcoming it. Looking at the results of various elections, he should also answer the discrepancies he has shown. For example, if he believed there was electoral malpractice in Haryana, why didn’t he show more vigilance in Maharashtra?