“Confident About Retaining Trust Of People”: Congress After Chhattisgarh Results Analysis

New Delhi: The Congress today said that it was analyzing the unexpected results in Chhattisgarh, but expressed confidence that it continues to retain the faith and trust of people in the state citing the vote share party got in the state.

Congress, which came to power in Chhattisgarh after securing a mammoth majority in 2018, was ousted in the November elections after BJP bagged 54 seats against Congress’ 35 seats from the total 90 constituencies.

A review meeting about the Chhattisgarh election results was held in Delhi today which was presided over by the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. It was attended among others, by former president Rahul Gandhi, general secretary organization KC Venugopal, general secretary in charge of the state Kumari Selja and senior leaders from Chhattisgarh.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Ms Selja said, while the final results were unexpected, belying all the surveys, opinion polls and expectations, the party does continue to retain the confidence and faith of people in the state.

She pointed out, the vote share of the party was the same as it was five years ago. She said, this is no mean achievement to retain the vote share for five years. This, she observed, meant that people had liked the policies of the government.

In 2023, BJP has a vote share of 46.27 per cent as compared to Congress’ 42.23 per cent. Congress’ vote share this time is 0.77 per cent less than last elections’ 43 per cent.

The Congress general secretary maintained that while the results were disappointing, the morale of the party’s rank and file was high. He said party leaders and workers will continue to reach out to the people in connection with the preparations for the Lok Sabha elections scheduled next year.

Ms Selja expressed confidence that the party will perform better in the parliamentary elections as people still have faith and trust in the Congress party as was evident in the voting pattern.
She also pointed out that the election was not a one sided affair as in several constituencies the party candidates lost by slim margins.