Lok Sabha elections 2024: Congress set to contest fewest seats since 1951

The decrease in the number of candidates was mainly because of the party conceding seats to its allies

In the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2024, the Congress party is set to contest the fewest seats — around 300 — in any Lok Sabha elections since 1951. This could be due to the party forging alliances in an unprecedented manner across the country.

So far, Congress has announced 236 candidates, but not a single nominee for Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Chandigarh, and Ladakh. It still needs to name the majority of its candidates for Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Odisha. However, sources said, this is expected to be about 70-80 candidates.

During the Congress Working Committee meeting on January 4 this year, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge hinted at contesting fewer seats when he said that the focus would mainly be on 255 seats. His statement was backed by internal surveys to identify seats with a high likelihood of victory. Sources said that the party also looked at seats and states where the INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) allies are stronger than the Congress. The decrease in the number of candidates was mainly because of the Congress conceding seats to its allies. The party conceded seats to the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Rajasthan, the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Madhya Pradesh and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Haryana.

In Uttar Pradesh, where the party contested 67 seats in 2019, it is only fighting 17 this year. After refusing to enter into any alliance in Rajasthan during the Assembly elections late last year, Congress left at least two seats for allies in the Lok Sabha polls.

A senior Congress strategist said that it was a conscious decision to concentrate on strong seats and to utilise limited resources to optimum use. “It is not about the number of seats you are contesting, it is all about how many you win. There is no point in contesting so many seats in UP if you are not building an organisation,” he said.

However, second-rung Congress leaders are unhappy with the strategy as they believe the party is conceding more than needed under the pressure of other regional parties. They said that in states such as Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, the Congress is “not playing the second fiddle but the third fiddle” to allies.