New Delhi: December 3 may have been a day of upsets for the Congress, but in terms of vote share, the grand old party was within “striking distance” of the BJP.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the good vote share of the party in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh is a reason for hope and revival.
Giving details, he said in Chhattisgarh while the BJP’s vote share was 46.3 per cent, that of the Congress was 42.2 per cent.
In Madhya Pradesh, he said the BJP had a vote share of 48.6 per cent while the Congress had 40.4 per cent.
BJP recorded a gain of more than seven per cent compared to 2018. The party got 41.02 per cent of votes in the 2018 elections.
In Rajasthan, Ramesh said while the BJP had 41.7 per cent vote share, the Congress had 39.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, a slim two per cent shift in votes toward the Congress led to K Chandrasekhar Rao-led BRS losing power to the grand old party in the Telangana Assembly polls.
According to the Election Commission’s data, the Congress secured victory by claiming 64 seats in the 119-member Assembly, attaining a
39.40 per cent vote share, surpassing BRS, which won 39 segments with a 37.35 per cent vote share.
The BRS witnessed a drop in its vote share by over 10 per cent, declining from 47 per cent in the 2018 Assembly elections, while the Congress gained slightly more than what the BRS lost, amounting to an 11 per cent increase.
In 2018, the BRS secured a significant 88 seats, whereas the Congress managed to win only 19 segments, garnering 28.4 per cent of the votes.
The BJP, initially emerging as a primary challenger to the BRS after winning a few by-polls and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections, ultimately doubled its vote share and improved its tally to eight seats.
In the 2018 polls, the saffron party secured just one seat with a seven per cent vote share.
According to some observers, the Congress gained ground by attracting votes from Telugu Desam Party sympathisers after the TDP opted out of the race due to its own reasons. The TDP secured 3.5 per cent of the votes and two seats in the 2018 Assembly elections.
The AIMIM party led by Asaduddin Owaisi retained its seat tally while almost maintaining its vote share. The Hyderabad-centric party secured seven seats, obtaining 2.22 per cent of the votes compared to 2.7 per cent in 2018.
The elections for the Telangana Assembly were conducted on November 30, and the vote counting was done on December 3.