Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Congress To Contest Fewest Seats Since Independence

New Delhi: In the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress party is set to contest the fewest seats in its history since 1951, with around 300 seats. This comes as the party has formed unprecedented alliances across the nation.

As of now, Congress has announced 236 candidates, yet none for key regions including Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Chandigarh, and Ladakh. Moreover, the party is yet to finalize candidates for several states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Odisha, which is expected to be around 70-80 candidates.

During the Congress Working Committee meeting on January 4, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge hinted at focusing mainly on 255 seats, backed by internal surveys identifying winnable constituencies. The reduction in candidates is attributed to Congress ceding seats to allies, especially in regions where partners like the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Samajwadi Party (SP), and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) hold stronger sway.

In Uttar Pradesh, where Congress contested 67 seats in 2019, it’s only contesting 17 this year.

While some within the party express dissatisfaction, seeing it as yielding too much ground to regional allies, senior strategists defend the approach, emphasizing the importance of winning over sheer numbers.