The Congress was decimated in the Delhi elections on Saturday, failing to open its account in the 70-member assembly for a third consecutive time and its key candidates suffering crushing defeats.
The only consolation, however, was a slight improvement in the party's vote share, with leaders proclaiming that they would win back the trust of the people and exuded confidence of forming its government in 2030.
An early one segment lead in Badli was soon lost and the party, now a pale shadow of its glorious past under late chief minister Sheila Dikshit, failed to open its account once again.
Her son Sandeep Dikshit finished third in New Delhi segment where Bharatiya Janata Party's Parvesh Sahib Verma defeated Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal by over 3000 votes.
While Verma polled 25057 votes and Kejriwal 22,057, Dikshit gathered just 3,873, in a shock culmination of the Sheila Dikshit legacy. Sheila Dikshit was the chief minister of Delhi for three terms.
A majority of Congress candidates lost their deposits and only three of them managed to save them.
These include Abhishek Dutt from Kasturba Nagar, who was the only Congress leader to finish second, Rohit Choudhary from Nangloi Jat and Devendra Yadav from Badli.
Most Congress candidates finished third after BJP or AAP, but in some even finished fourth after the AIMIM where they had put up its candidates in Muslim dominates segments.
Congress heavyweights were decimated -- state unit chief Devender Yadav ended up third in Badli, Mahila Congress president Alka Lamba finished third in Kalkaji where Chief Minister Atishi won; former minister Haroon Yusuf was third in Ballimaran which he represented five times between 1993 to 2013.
Congress scripted the same story of losses everywhere with only one tiny consolation of a 2.1 per cent improvement in vote share over 2020.
The party polled 6.39 per cent of the valid votes as against 4.3 per cent in the 2020 assembly polls, massively denting its Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partner AAP across segments.
AAP's vote share loss was massive -- down from 53.6 per cent in 2020 to 43.19 per cent -- a drop of over 10 per cent.
The Congress managed to play a spoiler for the AAP which suffered heavily in Scheduled Caste and Muslim-dominated segments where Congress made minor gains at AAP's cost and BJP's advantage.
'Aur lado aapas mein!!! (Keep on fighting each other),' National Conference leader and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah posted on X with a meme, in an apparent jibe at the AAP and the Congress.
The decimation of the Congress and its role of a spoiler are bound to impact the unity of an already-fragile INDIA bloc whose partners have been at variance over ideological issues and electoral alignments.
The friction between INDIA bloc partners may be visible in the assembly polls in Bihar.
The poor show of the Congress in Delhi, after Haryana and Maharashtra, will also lead to further diminishing of its dominant position in the Opposition bloc.
So while Congress and AAP had tied up for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Delhi, Chandigarh and Haryana, they decided to go it alone in Delhi.
AAP leader Jasmine Shah had on election eve claimed the party was firmly placed in Delhi and didn't need any allies.
The Congress for its part woke up late in Delhi fielding candidates in all 70 seats but primarily focussing on 18 seats where it didn't win but managed to affect the AAP.
Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also launched a spirited campaign but failed to make any impact.
The dismal show under Rahul Gandhi as lead campaigner is bound to further raise question marks on his ability to deliver at the hustings with the BJP likely to sharpen its attack on Congress as a dynastic party focussed on one family.
The Congress meanwhile appears determined to go it alone from here on and leaders say it may have suffered in Delhi but the impact of Delhi battle will be felt in Punjab in 2027 where, they say, Congress would be the principal beneficiary of disaffection towards the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP regime.
All India Congress Committe general secretary Jairam Ramesh claimed the party has increased its vote share and its campaign was vigorous.
"There will be a Congress government once again in Delhi in 2030," he claimed.
"Rahul Gandhi has decided that the party must contest on its own mettle even if it takes a while to return where it belongs," another senior Congress leader said referring to a slight improvement in party's vote share in Delhi.
The Congress vote share fell from 40.31 per cent in 2008 (the last time Congress formed a government in Delhi) to 24.55 per cent in 2013, 9.7 per cent in 2015 and 4.3 per cent in 2020.
AAP gained at Congress expense taking 29.6 per cent of votes in 2013, 54.6 per cent in 2015 and 53.6 per cent in 2020.
"We just recovered part of what we had lost," said a party leader, adding that this fight shall continue.
Congress leaders feel that it is a long and uphill battle from now as the party could manage to poll around 5.8 lakh votes, a bit higher than 3.95 votes polls in 2020, but far from 8.67 lakh votes in 2015 and 1.93 crore votes in 2013 when it won 8 seats.
The Congress had polled 2.49 crore votes in 2008 when it formed a government winning 43 seats.
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