Kumar Bahukhandi
With the announcement of assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, election activities have intensified. Congress has deployed its senior observers in these states, giving a clear message to its strategists and leaders to ensure that the mistake of Haryana is not repeated and the biggest challenge for the Congress in the elections is to fight the elections with unity.
This election is also a big test for the All India Alliance parties as the Congress has not performed relatively well in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, so a lot of pressure will be put on the Congress regarding seat sharing. After succeeding in keeping the Bharatiya Janata Party away from a majority in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress entered the assembly elections in these two states with full confidence. But the opposite of expectations happened; the MVA alliance performed very well in the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra, which challenges the Congress on many levels.
After its good performance in Maharashtra, the Congress has focused on more seats. NCP-Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena UBT seem ready for bargaining after the victory of Congress in Haryana elections, but these parties also cannot ignore the strength of Congress in Maharashtra to defeat the BJP.
In the last assembly elections, Congress and NCP together were behind BJP, but this time with the coming together of Shiv Sena Uddhav faction, the strength of India alliance seems to have increased, while there is also pressure to split NCP.
Big confusion about CM face
The main concern is about the CM face. Shiv Sena UBT wants Uddhav Thackeray to be made the CM candidate, but Congress does not seem to agree to this. Although Congress has emerged as the largest party in the Lok Sabha elections, Shiv Sena has indicated to agree with Uddhav.
Congress had won 13 out of 17 Lok Sabha seats, Shiv Sena UBT had won 9 out of 21, while Sharad Pawar’s NCP had won 8 out of 10.
Congress will have to remain a junior partner in Jharkhand elections
Congress will have to become the junior partner of JMM in Jharkhand, but the distribution of seats will also be important. In the last assembly elections, Congress had fielded candidates on 31 out of 43 seats, but won only 16.
JMM’s strike rate was better in the elections, in which RJD, which is part of the alliance, contested seven seats and won one seat. This time, CPI ML, a constituent of the All India Alliance, is also expressing its desire to join the alliance, which contested 15 seats and won one seat last time, both Congress and JMM are claiming more seats this time.
Congress wants to contest 110-115 seats in Maharashtra The party wants to contest 110-115 seats out of 288 in the assembly, while 90-95 seats will be left for Shiv Sena UBT and 80-85 seats for Sharad Pawar’s NCP. A challenge for the opposition will also be to run a joint campaign. Samajwadi Party also wants to get a share in the Maharashtra elections.
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