The Congress’s Delhi unit chief, Devender Yadav, on Monday said the party’s failure to get the votes of Dalits and minorities who are “uncomfortable with the politics of the Bharatiya Janata Party” dented its prospects in the Assembly poll.
“Dalits and minorities who are uncomfortable with the politics of the BJP thought that the Aam Aadmi Party would form the government, and hence voted for AAP, which affected the vote share of the Congress and benefited the BJP,” said Mr. Yadav.
He added, “We could not convince them that the Congress could form the government.” The party failed to win a single seat in the Assembly poll for the third time on the trot but found solace in a marginal improvement in its vote share — from 4.3% in the 2020 poll to 6.36% this time. Of the 70 seats that it fought, the Congress managed to come second in only one — Kasturba Nagar, where its candidate Abhishek Dutt polled more votes than AAP’s Ramesh Pehelwan, but not enough to defeat BJP’s Neeraj Basoya.
Former MP Sandeep Dikshit, who fought against AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal from New Delhi, got only 4,568 votes. Apart from Mr. Dutt, Rohit Choudhary (Nangloi Jat) and Devender Yadav (Badli), few other candidates were able to put up a fight and most lost their deposits.
Published - February 11, 2025 12:42 am IST
