Bharatiya Janata Party is set to form the government in Haryana for the third consecutive time, while Congress has suffered its third consecutive defeat since 2014. Currently, BJP leads in 49 seats. Despite exit polls predicting a significant victory for Congress, they have failed to deliver. Initially, as the Haryana assembly election results began to come in on Tuesday, Congress appeared to be in the lead, raising hopes of halting BJP's dominance.
However, as vote counting continued, Congress fell behind, allowing BJP to secure a majority. This raises questions about why Congress lost in Haryana and why it couldn't halt BJP's momentum, prompting discussions on the matter.
Here are five key reasons for Congress's defeat:
- Factionalism in Congress - The internal divisions within the party, particularly Kumari Shailaja's grievances and Ashok Tanwar's return, exacerbated Congress's challenges.
- Overconfidence in anti-incumbency - The Congress party relied on a decade of anti-incumbency in several constituencies, but their overconfidence from winning five Lok Sabha seats in June 2024 proved misplaced.
- Ineffective strategy against BJP - Congress's criticisms of the BJP regarding constitutional issues and reservations failed to make an impact in Haryana, where the BJP's strategy held firm.
- Leaders' complacency - Many Congress leaders remained focused solely on their own constituencies. Furthermore, the party's recruitment of members from other parties during the elections was met with skepticism.
- Insufficient appeal to BJP's beneficiary class - The Haryana Congress struggled to connect with the BJP's supporter base, and issues concerning wrestlers and farmers did not yield significant advantages.
BJP is all set to form a government in Haryana for the third consecutive time. However, BJP failed to re-establish their magic in Jammu and Kashmir.