Assembly poll results: With poor strike rate, Congress emerges as weak link in INDIA bloc

NEW DELHI: The INDIA bloc can breathe a sigh of relief in Jharkhand with the JMM-led alliance poised to return to power. In Maharashtra, the BJP-led NDA set for an enormous win. However, in both states, it is the Congress which has emerged as the weak link in the alliance with a poor strike rate (rate of converting seats contested to wins).

In Maharashtra, as per the seat sharing of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the Congress contested on the majority of seats — 101 — and was expected to carry the Aghadi alliance along with it. The party is currently leading on 19 seats which makes a strike rate of just 18.8 per cent. The Nationalist Congress Party (SCP) fought on 86 seats and is leading on 12 which makes up a strike rate of 14 per cent and Shiv Sena (UBT) contested on 95 seats and has leads in 20 seats a strike rate of 21 per cent.

Notably, several leaders in the Maha Vikas Aghadi had objected to Congress contesting the majority of the seats within the alliance. The three parties — Congress, NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) — had earlier decided to contest 85 seats each and had said negotiations were being held for the remaining seats in the 288-member Assembly.

On the other hand, the INDIA bloc is set to retain the power in Jharkhand with the alliance leading on almost 50 seats. But the Congress which contested 30 seats in the state, is leading on 14 seats with a strike rate of 46 per cent.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) contested 43 seats and is leading on 30 seats a strike rate of nearly 70 per cent while the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) contested six seats and gained a lead on four seats. Another alliance partner of the INDIA bloc, the Communist Party of India (CPI(M)(L)) contested four seats and has gained a lead on two.

#WATCH | On Maharashtra election results, Congress leader Supriya Shrinate says, “Maharashtra election results are opposite to our expectations. There is no doubt that we could have done better. At the same time, we are happy that we have performed well in Jharkhand and we are… pic.twitter.com/C2ZqcdDSYY

— ANI (@ANI) November 23, 2024

Congress leader Supriya Shrinate said that the election results in Maharashtra were not up to the party’s expectations “Maharashtra election results are opposite to our expectations. There is no doubt that we could have done better. At the same time, we are happy that we have performed well in Jharkhand and we are going to repeat govt in the state. Maharashtra elections have been disappointing. In Maharashtra, our campaign was good but maybe the public expects more from us and we will deliver on their expectations”, she said. (ANI)