Mumbai: Before Maharashtra goes to vote in the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls on April 11, the Congress has conducted an internal survey of its grassroot and booth-level party workers. The results of the survey predicts a better showing for the party than its 2014 performance, indicating at least 14 seats across the state.
The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and its allies are likely to gain 24 seats in the state, the survey shows. The Congress has more than two lakh volunteers working as booth-level karyakartas across the state.
Apart from the district level leaders of the party and its internal observers, the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) and its social media team sought a ground report of all 48 Lok Sabha constituencies from booth-level workers.
According to a senior party leader, the result of the survey is likely to boost the morale of the party workers, as it shows, the party in a good position in 14 constituencies, including three in Mumbai.
“The Bharatiya Janata Party and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis have claimed the BJP-Shiv Sena Yuti (alliance) will win 45 seats, including Baramati. However, the situation on the ground is completely different. Either, the BJP has failed to understand the undercurrents against it, or they are deliberately ignoring it overconfidently,” said a Congress leader.
The source claimed, “The Congress is likely to win Gadchiroli, Ramtek, Wardha, Chandrapur and Yavatmal in Vidarbha. Whereas its ally, the NCP is likely to win Bhandara-Gondia. Except for Nagpur, the Congress-NCP combine are likely to grab these six seats from the BJP-Sena in this election.”
“Latur, Nanded, Hingoli, Dhule, Nandurbar, Bhiwandi are the other constituencies from Marathwada, North Maharashtra and Konkan, where Congress will gain seats,” said the source, adding, “the Congress does not have hopes from Western Maharashtra”.
Had Kolhapur been exchanged with the NCP and our candidate been fielded, the seat was a certainty for the Congress. In Sangli, the party failed to finalise the candidate, making a mess,” said the source. “Priya Dutt, Urmila Matondkar and Eknath Gaikwad are the three candidates of the party in Mumbai, who are in a win-win position and the results from Mumbai would be shocking,” he claimed.
The NCP hopes to win Bhandara, Parbhani, Osmanabad, Ahmednagar, Raigad, Baramati and the Satara seats. “Hatkanangale, where there is an ally of the Congress-NCP, will be another seat to be bagged by the Maha aghadi,” the source claimed.