Can Congress Win Back Its Voters from AAP? News24 –

With the campaign for Delhi Assembly Elections 2025 coming to an end and the contest being limited practically between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party and the main opposition the BJP, will Congress be able to regain its lost ground?

Will Rahul Gandhi retrieve the ground the grand old party lost to the AAP?

Will the Congress increase its vote share and win a few seats at least to encourage its workers and local-level leaders, who have been demoralised after losing three consecutive assembly elections?

BJP’s Support Base Remains Intact

Political analysts believe, the BJP has a captive voters’ base and it has remained almost static over the years. Though the saffron party has been out of power since 1998, its vote share has been constant between 32% and 38%.

Though the BJP won just three seats in the 2015 elections, it garnered 32.2% of votes, while the Congress got only 9.7% of votes and failed to win a single seat. The AAP won 67 seats and got 54.3% of the votes.

AAP Eats Into Congress Vote Bank

The Congress garnered 40.31% of votes and won 43 seats in the 2008 Delhi Elections while the BJP won 23 seats getting 36.34% of votes.

The BJP’s vote share in 2020 was 38.51% of votes, while that of the AAP soared to 53.57%. In Delhi Elections 2020, the vote share of the grand old party plummeted to 4.3%.

Political analysts point out that the vote share of the Congress fell from 40.31% in 2008 to 4.3% in 2020. On the other hand, the vote share of the AAP soared to 53.57% in 2020.

However, the vote share of the BJP kept fluctuating between 36.34% and 38.51%. It is clear that the AAP flourished at the cost of the the Congress.

What Does Rahul Gandhi Want?

Analysts believe Rahul Gandhi’s sole aim is to win back the lost voters as much as it could. Though initially Congress and the AAP were holding parleys to strike a deal before the Delhi Assembly Elections 2025, Arvind Kejriwal declared to go alone, dashing all hopes for an alliance to stop the saffron party.

However, the local-level leaders of the grand old party were against any deal with the ruling party, arguing that it must fight on its own and oppose the AAP so that its original voters return to the party.

Rahul Gandhi Targets Arvind Kejriwal

Risking a split in the grand opposition coalition of INDIA, Rahul Gandhi chose to attack Arvind Kejriwal and went to the extent of comparing him to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In an attempt to puncture the politics of freebies and tall promises, Congress accused the AAP of not fulfilling its promises in the past.

It was such a serious allegation that Kejriwal came out in the open to accept that some of his promises remained unfulfilled.

He also accused the grand old party of being hand in glove with the saffron party in an attempt to defeat the ruling party. Hitting back at Rahul Gandhi, he said that when he criticised the BJP, the Gandhi scion replied.

Arvind Kejriwal Addresses Congress Supporters

The AAP- convener addressed directly to the Congress supporters and told them that the grand old party could win not more than 2-3 seats, and would not be in the position of forming the government in Delhi.

He urged them to vote for the AAP to continue with the good work being done now.

Congress took the Delhi elections seriously and sent the message that it meant business by fielding candidates like two-time MP Sandeep Dikshit and Alka Lamba.

Poll pundits believe, that Congress also thinks that it will not be able to form government, but it is confident of making deep inroads and regaining at least a part of its lost support base.

Will it be able to do it?