New Delhi, Nov 10 As trends point at a neck and neck contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in the Bihar Assembly elections, where many exit polls predicted a cake walk for the Opposition, the Congress seems to have already conceded defeat.
Late in the afternoon, the grand old party's headquarters in Delhi wore a deserted look. No Congress party workers were seen chatting with mediapersons, instead a group of monkey were seen sitting in the lawn of the party headquarters in Akbar Road.
According to the Election Commission website, at 5 p.m., the BJP was leading on 72 seats, followed by RJD leading on 73 seats, and Janata Dal (United) leading on 43 seats. The Congress held lead on just 20 seats, out of the 70 seats it had contested in.
The Congress had gone into the election on a development plank - Covid-19 mismanagement, migrant crisis, jobs and farmers' issues - yet it struggled to make a mark against the NDA government, despite the anti-incumbency factor.
Though not all the votes have been counted yet, according to the Election Commission, the counting is half-way through, and these trends are to solidify into results. In that case, the Congress faces a possible crisis with its depleting footprints in Bihar politics.
None of the Congress party spokespersons were available for comment on the poor show in the Bihar polls.
The Bihar elections assumed great significance given that it came six months into the Covid-19 pandemic. The Congress took the elections as an opportunity to attack the Centre and its alleged 'lackadaisical' approach in managing the pandemic.
But it seems that its political pitch has failed to capture the people's imagination.
( With inputs from IANS )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor