Congress hopes to repeat 2013 performance in Delhi polls

Congress in Delhi focuses on 20 seats, candidate-centric campaign for Assembly polls, aiming to repeat 2013 performance.

Fighting for survival in Delhi, the Congress has narrowed down its focus to 20 seats and is running a candidate centric campaign in the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls. The party wants to repeat its 2013 performance where after being unseated from the throne, pushed to the third position in the Assembly tally, the Congress still held the key to power.

Delhi will cast its vote on February 5 to elect 90 legislators. In 2013, after 15-years of unbroken stint, the Congress found itself with just eight legislators and 24.6% of the vote share. Since then, the party has been on a downward spiral in the national capital. For two consecutive Assembly elections — 2015 and 2020— the Congress has not win a single seat. 

In the 2025 election, hoping to break the dry spell, according to senior party leaders, the Congress has picked out 20-seats where it has a fair chance of giving a strong fight for optimum use of its resources. Second, it is banking on the return of minority and dalit voters to its camp.

“AAP remained a mute spectator during Delhi riots after winning by a huge margin. The present Chief Minister Atishi went out of her way to blame Tablighi Jamaat for the spread of COVID. These are the issues that minority voters cannot forget easily,” a senior Congress leader said. 

The three consecutive defeats, has had a debilitating impact on the party’s organisational structure and the party knowing fully well of its depleted strength and the fact that the voters do not see them having any real shot at power, is leaning more on the candidates. “We have carefully selected candidates, persons who with their social capital can pull through this battle,” the senior leader added. 

It has also fielded its sitting and former Chief Ministers to present the “Congress model” of governance. So far, the party has already fielded former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Ghelot and former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Karnataka deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar have also made an appearance. 

With these strategies in place for the Congress the best case scenario is a repeat of 2013, the milestone election which was the beginning of its downslide. But for the Congress even that would be a huge leap. In 2013, the Congress won 24.6% votes which came down to 4% in 2020 polls.