With one of the worst electoral performances recently, the road ahead for the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) seems to be filled with uncertainties and infighting. This is at a time when the State Assembly polls are four months away.
The Maharashtra Congress managed to win only one seat: Chandrapur in Vidarbha. The performance is worst than that in 2014, when it had got two seats. The NCP, which had hoped to cross double-digit mark in the Lok Sabha for the first time, managed to bag four seats.
The vote share of the two opposition parties has dropped from 34.10% in 2014 to 31.79%, till the last reports came in. The Congress’s and NCP’s individual vote share was 16.27% and 15.52% respectively. It has been the lowest for the Congress since the Independence.
Maharashtra Congress Committee presidentAshok Chavan said despite his personal defeat and the party’s poor performance, he and party workers will continue to work for society. “People have denied a chance to us this time. I remain committed to the party and am ready to accept whatever decision theparty takes on the future course of the Maharashtra Congress,” Mr. Chavan said.
The NCP, on the other hand, had been claiming that it would touch the double digit. Party spokesperson Nawab Malik had said that in case of a fractured verdict, NCP president Sharad Pawar would play a major role.
The party now stares at an internal conflict as Parth Pawar, son of Mr. Pawar’s nephew and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, lost his political debut from Maval constituency by over two lakh votes. The NCP chief had to withdraw from his earlier plan of contesting from Madha to make way for Parth and it was said that he was not happy with the decision.
