Sravasti Dasgupta 
New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has called for “harsh decisions” while questioning the party’s over-reliance on national leaders and national issues following its recent reverses in the recently concluded state assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana.
At the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting held on Friday (November 29) to analyse the party’s performance in state assembly elections, Kharge said that while its focus on national issues like unemployment, inflation and a nationwide caste survey were important, this does not mean that local issues are forgotten.
“We may have lost the elections, but there is no doubt that unemployment, inflation and economic inequality are the burning issues of this country. Caste census is also an important issue today. Issues like the constitution, social justice and harmony are people’s issues. But this does not mean that we should forget the important local issues in the election states,” he said at the meeting.
“It is also important to understand the different issues of the states in detail and make a concrete campaign strategy around them. How long will you contest state elections on the basis of national issues and national leaders?”
Kharge’s remarks come after the party’s defeat in the Haryana assembly elections, where the BJP defied anti-incumbency and exit poll predictions and seemingly course-corrected from its losses in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to form a third consecutive government in the state.
While the Congress in alliance with the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha won the assembly elections in Jharkhand last week, it delivered its worst ever performance in Maharashtra. This despite the gains in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where the party in alliance with the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) bested the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance.
“After the kind of results that came in favour of the MVA [Maha Vikas Aghadi] in the Lok Sabha just six months ago, the result in the legislative assembly is beyond the comprehension of even political pundits. Such results have emerged that no amount of arithmetic is unable to justify it,” said Kharge at the CWC meeting.
In Haryana, on the other hand, where the party was poised for victory due to the anti-incumbency in the state but was outperformed by the BJP due to its course-corrective measures, Kharge said that “mere atmosphere” being in favour of the party was not enough.
“Friends, the atmosphere in the elections was in our favour. But a mere favourable environment does not guarantee victory. We have to learn to convert the environment into results. What is the reason why we are not able to take advantage of the environment?” he asked.
“Recent election results also indicate that we should start our election preparations in the states at least a year in advance. Our teams should be present in the field before time. The first task should be to check the voter lists so that the votes of our party’s people remain in the list at all costs.”
While in Haryana the party’s losses were also pinned to intra-party factionalism and its failure to put its house in order, Kharge said that there was a need to remain united and take “harsh decisions”.
“Many times we become our own worst enemy. We ourselves will talk negatively and depressingly about ourselves and say that ‘we do not have a narrative’. So I ask, whose responsibility is it to create the narrative and convey it to the public?” he asked.
“After achieving encouraging results in the Lok Sabha elections, we have suffered a setback in the legislative assembly elections. That is why we have to take tough decisions,” he added.
‘Electoral process compromised’
While the Congress’s Maharashtra unit is set to launch a campaign against the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs), Kharge said that it was the Election Commission’s responsibility to “ensure free and fair elections”.
“Questions are being raised again and again as to what extent this responsibility is being fulfilled,” he said.
Addressing a press conference after the CWC meeting, Congress general secretary and Lok Sabha MP K.C. Venugopal read out the resolution adopted by the CWC in the meeting that said that in Haryana, the Congress should have formed the government in the state but didn’t.
“There have been electoral malpractices that influenced the results in the state which have been overlooked,” the resolution said.
In Maharashtra, Venugopal said that the CWC found the electoral outcome was “shocking and beyond normal understanding and appears to be a clear case of targeted manipulation”.
“The CWC believes the integrity of the entire electoral process is being severely compromised. Free and fair elections [are] a constitutional mandate that is being called into serious question by the partisan functioning of the Election Commission. Increasing sections of society are becoming frustrated and deeply apprehensive. The Congress will take these public concerns as a national movement,” the resolution read out by Venugopal said.