This was the 6th successive time that Congress drew a blank in an election in the National Capital. The party has scored a duck in the last 3 Assembly elections, and also in the last 3 Lok Sabha elections held in Delhi. Embarrassingly, Congress also lost its deposit in 67 out of 70 seats during the 2025 Assembly elections.
The Congress party, having consistently failed to present itself as a viable alternative, has apparently been reduced to a ‘Vote Katwa‘. In the current elections, while the party failed to get a single seat, its vote share recorded an increase of a mere 2 per cent, seemingly cutting at the voter base of AAP. The vote share of AAP dropped by 10 per cent from 53.57 per cent in the last election to 43.55 per cent in this election. BJP registered a 7 per cent increase in vote share from 38.52 per cent in the last election to 45.76 per cent in this election.
Rahul Gandhi and his caste census rant
The Congress party struggled with the lack of a sound election strategy, strong leadership and clear direction in the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections. There was a lack of clarity on the issues the Congress was fighting on as well decision-making by the top leadership. The Congress election campaign suffered from organisational mismanagement as well as the unwillingness of some of its leaders to contest the elections.
Additionally, Congress’ on-and-off relationship with the AAP also played against it. In the initial phase of the election campaign, the Congress party aggressively attacked the AAP government in Delhi calling it out for not fulfilling its promises. But later on, being an INDI Alliance ally of AAP, Congress weakened its attack on the party leaving the party cadres in a state of confusion.
Besides, the top leadership of the party, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, were nearly absent from the election campaign. Rahul Gandhi was away from the campaign for about two weeks, practically leaving the party leaderless. His entire election campaign revolved around caste census, the age-old ‘danger to the constitution’ and the capture of state institutions by the BJP. Among these issues, Gandhi raised the issue of caste census with full fervour suggesting how AI could be used to conduct the caste census and how the use of AI could ensure increased participation of Dalits, OBC and Adivasis in the country.
None of the issues he raised resonated with the people of Delhi. This goes on to show how disconnected the Congress leadership has grown from the ground voter. Be it the Lok Sabha elections or the State Assembly elections, the Congress party’s issues remain unchanged regardless of the voter it is appealing to.
The identity crisis of INDI Alliance
The INDI Alliance of the opposition parties, which includes 28 political parties including the Congress, has landed its constituent parties in an identity crisis. The alliance was forged by the opposition parties before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to counter the BJP. However, the constituent parties of the INDI Alliance often fight individually in state assembly elections leaving voters in a state of confusion. A similar situation was seen during the Delhi Assembly elections, where the Congress found itself in a fix over campaigning against the incumbent AAP government.
Interestingly, the Congress’ INDIA bloc allies are blaming the party for the entire opposition’s failure to defeat the BJP. Senior Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav said that the attitude of the Congress was very bad during the Delhi elections for attacking its ally Arvind Kejriwal. CPI General Secretary D Raja also held the Congress party responsible for the victory of the BJP and said that the election results were a wake-up call, particularly, for the Congress. He said that the opposition needs introspection and unity to save the Constitution.
The future of the Congress party does not appear very bright with the same leadership and election strategies. The party is in dire need of a major overhaul in its central leadership as well as election strategies. Rahul Gandhi has been a consistently bad performer on the election front. Despite this, the Nehru-Gandhi family-led party refuses to introspect and provide opportunities to other leaders from the party.
