Shocked by its defeat in the Haryana Assembly election, the Congress is “reconstructing” the polls not only to find out what went wrong but also for possible lessons to be learnt for the upcoming Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly elections.
A key party strategist, who was involved in the Haryana election and is now handling the Maharashtra polls for the party, told The Hindu that the focus was on 24 Assembly constituencies where a defeat was “unimaginable” for the party.
Following the October 8 counting, teams from the Congress have carried out booth-level and block-level surveys again across Haryana. “The reason we are doing this exercise is to build a solid case. After an unexpected result, factfinding committees are formed, doubts over Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are raised, and then everything gets forgotten by the next election,” the source said.
At a recent Congress strategy meeting on Maharashtra, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi asked party strategists to “go deep” into the reasons that cost them the Haryana election.
Going ahead, the party now plans to put in place some standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the upcoming Assembly elections. For example, one complaint that the Congress has led with the Election Commission (EC) concerns the counting of votes in Haryana election, when EVMs in 20 constituencies displayed 99% battery capacity even though these machines were deployed for voting on October 5.
“Our candidates will be told that they should look for battery capacity in EVMs, and if they have any doubt, they should write a note and get it signed by the polling officer,” the source said. Only six of the party’s candidates in Haryana followed this process, he said.
Polarisation narrative
Akin to the underlying narrative of polarisation between Jats and non-Jats in Haryana, with the Congress seen to be appealing only to Jats, there is now a sharp divide between Marathas and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in Maharashtra because of the demand for reservation for the Maratha community.
While the Maratha community is said to be dominant in over 150 of the total 288 Assembly seats, OBCs play a decisive role in 70- 80 seats, party strategists said. “Maharashtra is likely to be a close contest and unlike previous elections, this election will see polarisation between OBCs and Marathas,” the Congress source said.
In Jharkhand, too, the party has to tread carefully over issues that can create a divide between tribal and non-tribal voters. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the Congress are trying hard to accommodate the concerns of its alliance partners.