Congress leaders concede defeat in Maharashtra, Haryana assembly polls

As early trends predicted a defeat for the Congress Party in Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections, party leaders have reportedly accepted the inevitable, and are now pitching for improvement in the future.

"Early trends have made it clear that results are not on the lines we expected. There is an anti-incumbency factor, but we have performed better than we did in the Lok Sabha polls," said Congress leader Rajiv Shukla.

Shukla, however, continued to maintain that there was no Modi wave in the two states or across the country and opined that the Bharatiya Janata Party's performance has lowered down in comparison to its performance in the May 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He also said that the ruling party's popularity and influence has also decreased.

The president of the Congress Party's Haryana unit, Ashok Tanwar, said, "We accept the public's mandate with respect and modesty, we will introspect."

Maharashtra Congress unit president Manikrao Thakre said these are just early trends, and expressed the hope that the party will get above 50 seats in the state assembly.

Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Sanjay Nirupam said, "We accept this defeat humbly, we will prepare with a new start. But the people of Maharashtra have not given a full majority to the BJP, which raises a question about their so-called popularity."

Early trends show Congress at the fourth position in Maharashtra with 40 seats and at the third position in Haryana with only 10 seats.