The decimation of the Congress in the 2014 lok Sabha elections was complete with the BJP pushing all over it in all the seven seats in the national Capital. The rout was complete with the crushing defeats to its two Union Ministers being relegated to an abysmal third position in their respective constituencies. Three of the sitting MPs Mahabal Mishra, Ramesh Kumar and the Union Minister Krishna Tirath forfeited their deposits as they failed to get to the 10 per cent of the total polled votes.
It was a big reversal for the Congress as it had won all the seven seats in 2009 elections. What is more worrying for the party is its further loss among the voters. It was upstaged by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that came second to the BJP in all the lok Sabha seats in the city.
It has come as a double whammy for the Congress after it was reduced to a mere eight seats in the 70-member Assembly in 2013 Assembly polls after ruling the city for 15 consecutive years. like in Assembly polls, the fledgling Aam Aadmi Party emerged as the second largest party in the lok Sabha polls though it could not win a single seat. The most interesting fact is that Congress won the four seats in the assembly in minority dominated areas but in the lok Sabha elections, the minority votes completely shifted to AAP which pushed Congress to the third position in all seven Parliamentary constituencies.
Political experts say that revival of the grand old party in the national Capital seems to be a bit difficult now after the emergence of the AAP which has given an alternative to its traditional voters such as scheduled castes, backward class and minority sections. The AAP had made a dream debut in the assembly polls winning 28 seats riding on anti-corruption plank and promise to provide clean governance.