The 2013 Assembly elections in the State saw the Congress achieving an important milestone crossing the one crore mark in votes secured.
Of the 3.12 crore votes polled, the Congress secured 1.14 crore votes, which no other political party has achieved so far. In the 2008 Assembly elections, of the 2.61 crore votes polled, the Congress secured 90.91 lakh votes.
The Congress could achieve this by polling an additional 25.91 lakh votes in 2013. In no other election, the Congress has seen such a large increase in its vote base.
In fact, the Congress’ vote base, which was stagnant around 90 lakhs in the past three elections, for the first time, saw an upward surge and cross the one crore mark.
Despite the increase in the number of electorate and increased voter turnout, the Congress had not been able to achieve a significant increase in its vote share in the 2004 and the 2008 elections.
In fact, the vote share of the party had decreased marginally in 2008 elections.
In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the party’s vote base was only 71 lakh.