The Congress was wiped out in Bengal in the just concluded polls (File)
New Delhi:
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has summoned a session of the party’s highest decision making body – Congress Working Committee – on Monday to review the grand old party’s poll performance in the just concluded assembly elections.
“Unfortunately, our own performance in all the states was very disappointing and if I may say, unexpectedly so. The CWC is meeting shortly to review results…,” Sonia Gandhi said at a virtual meet of the Congress Parliamentary Party on Friday, as she congratulated Mamata Banerjee and MK Stalin for their wins.
In the recent polls, the Congress failed to come back to power in Kerala and Assam and was wiped out in West Bengal. It also lost out in Puducherry.
In Kerala, the Congress at least held its ground, losing just one seat from 2016 to finish with 41. The Left front registered a commanding win by claiming 99 seats and also bucked a four-decade trend by winning consecutive terms. The BJP won zero seats.
Seen as a Congress stronghold until it was breached in 2016, the Congress did marginally better in Assam, winning 29 of 95 seats it contested. But the opposition alliance failed to challenge the BJP, winning just 50 seats to the ruling party’s 75.
In Tamil Nadu, the party was part of the winning DMK-led alliance and performed relatively better, winning 18 of 25 allocated seats.
The Congress failed to return to power in Puducherry – where its government crashed days before polling – after the NR Congress-BJP pairing won 16 of 30 seats.
In Bengal, where the Congress forged an alliance with the Left – both parties failed to win a single seat. By contrast the Trinamool swept to its biggest victory with 213 seats to the BJP’s 77.
Over the past year, a group of party leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Kapil Sibal, have underscored the need for introspection over continuing poor performances in elections and called for “full time” and “visible” leadership to take the party forward.