Lucknow: Congress candidates finished second on two seats and failed to make much of an impression on four others for which assembly bypolls were held in Uttar Pradesh. The party could not contest the Tundla seat because of the rejection of the nomination papers of its candidate. The party’s overall vote share went up marginally from 6.25% in the 2017 assembly elections to 7.53% even as it has revamped its state unit ahead of the 2022 assembly elections.
Lucknow: Congress candidates finished second on two seats and failed to make much of an impression on four others for which assembly bypolls were held in Uttar Pradesh. The party could not contest the Tundla seat because of the rejection of the nomination papers of its candidate. The party’s overall vote share went up marginally from 6.25% in the 2017 assembly elections to 7.53% even as it has revamped its state unit ahead of the 2022 assembly elections.
A weak organisation and the failure to put up winnable candidates have been blamed for the Congress’s continuing poor electoral performances in the state. The party did not even manage to get a double-digit vote share in Bulandshahr, Naugawan Sadat, Deoria, and Malhani. Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu said they have been able to improve their overall performance. “Our vote share has also improved. We are discussing what went wrong with our party leaders. We will continue to work on our drawbacks and take corrective measures to further strengthen the party.”
Congress’s Arti Bajpai and Kripa Shankar finished second in Bangermau and Ghatampur with vote share of 22.09% and 23.23%. Sushil Chaudhary, the party’s candidate in Bulandshahr, finished fourth with 5.1% of votes. Even Muhammad Yameen of the newly-formed Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) got more votes and finished third with 13,530 votes. Chaudhary got just 10,319 votes.
The Congress managed just 2.18% votes in Naugawan Sadat, 2.17% in Deoria, and 1.39% in Malhani.
A Congress functionary blamed the choice of candidates for the poor show in these seats. “A senior office-bearer of the All India Congress Committee camped in Deoria for weeks to shortlist the party’s candidates there. A similar exercise was carried out at other places. Yet, there was a protest against the party’s choice in Deoria. The revamped party organisation failed to make any impact. The rejection of the Congress candidate’s nomination papers in Tundla shows how the party failed to make appropriate preparations despite having a battery of lawyers.” A second functionary said Lallu has been leading agitations and the party has been able to keep itself in focus in the past few months. “But the party organisation has failed to perform in the first political test.”
Lallu said by-elections generally go in the favour of the ruling party. “The Bharatiya Janata Party [which won six of the seven seats] is known for misusing the election machinery and it did so in the by-elections.”
