The Congress was decimated in the Delhi elections on Saturday, failing to open its account in the 70-member assembly for a third consecutive time and its key candidates suffering crushing defeats, due to central leadership failure.  Except three candidates-Delhi Congress president Devendra Yadav, Abhisek Dutt from Kasturba Nagar and Rohit Choudhury from Nagloi, 67 contesting candidates forfeited their security amount.  The party polled 6.39 per cent of the valid votes as against 4.3 per cent in the 2020 assembly polls, massively denting its INDIA bloc partner Aam Aadmi Party across segments.  AAP’s vote share loss was massive -- down from 53.6 per cent in 2020 to 43.19 per cent -- a drop of over ten per cent.

The only positive takeaway for the Congress from the Delhi Assembly election results - in which it failed to win any seat for the third time - is that the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) ouster will blunt Arvind Kejriwal’s challenge to Rahul Gandhi’s leadership in the INDIA bloc.

Another dismal performance by the Congress in Delhi has reconfirmed that the party has been rejected completely by the very same voters – Dalits and Muslims - who gave the party 15 years of rule from 1998 to 2013.

The dismal show under Rahul Gandhi as lead campaigner is bound to further raise question marks on his ability to deliver at the hustings with the BJP likely to sharpen its attack on Congress as a dynastic party focussed on one family. Political analysts believe that the Dalits, who ditched the Congress in 2008 for the AAP, have gravitated towards the BJP in this election. On the other hand, the Muslims who deserted Congress 11 years ago did not completely vote for the AAP but preferred to stay home and not vote at all -- thus pulling down the total voting percentage to 60.54 per cent or about 2.28 percentage points lower than in 2020. The AAP’s ouster is also likely to result in a long-term gain for the Congress if it disintegrates or gets weak over the next five years, once again taking the city to a bipolar political set-up with the BJP pitted directly with the Congress.

The Congress for its part woke up late in Delhi fielding candidates in all 70 seats but primarily focussing on 18 seats where it didn’t win but managed to affect the AAP. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also launched a spirited campaign but failed to make any impact.

An early one segment lead in Badli was soon lost and the party, now a pale shadow of its glorious past under late chief minister Sheila Dikshit, failed to open its account once again. Her son Sandeep Dikshit finished third in New Delhi segment where BJP’s Parvesh Sahib Verma defeated AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal by over 3000 votes. While Verma polled 25057 votes and Kejriwal 22057, Dikshit gathered just 3873, in a shock culmination of the Sheila Dikshit legacy. Sheila Dikshit was the chief minister of Delhi for three terms.

A majority of Congress candidates lost their deposits and only three of them managed to save them. These include Abhishek Dutt from Kasturba Nagar, who was the only Congress leader to finish second, Rohit Choudhary from Nangloi Jat and Devendra Yadav from Badli. Most Congress candidates finished third after BJP or AAP, but in some even finished fourth after the AIMIM where they had put up its candidates in Muslim dominates segments.

Congress heavyweights were decimated -- state unit chief Devender Yadav ended up third in Badli, Mahila Congress president Alka Lamba finished third in Kalkaji where Chief Minister Atishi won; former minister Haroon Yusuf was third in Ballimaran which he represented five times between 1993 to 2013. Congress scripted the same story of losses everywhere with only one tiny consolation of a 2.1 per cent improvement in vote share over 2020.

The Congress managed to play a spoiler for the AAP which suffered heavily in Scheduled Caste and Muslim-dominated segments where Congress made minor gains at AAP’s cost and BJP’s advantage. “Aur lado aapas mein!!! (Keep on fighting each other),” National Conference leader and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah posted on X with a meme, in an apparent jibe at the AAP and the Congress.

The poor show of the Congress in Delhi, after Haryana and Maharashtra, will also lead to further diminishing of its dominant position in the Opposition bloc. So while Congress and AAP had tied up for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Delhi, Chandigarh and Haryana, they decided to go it alone in Delhi.

The Congress vote share fell from 40.31 per cent in 2008 (the last time Congress formed a government in Delhi) to 24.55 per cent in 2013, 9.7 per cent in 2015 and 4.3 per cent in 2020.AAP gained at Congress expense taking 29.6 per cent of votes in 2013, 54.6 per cent in 2015 and 53.6 per cent in 2020.