New Delhi, The Congress seems to be languishing in insignificance in Delhi Assembly polls with a seat projection of anything between zero and four seats, according to the IANS-CVoter Exit Poll.
The Congress had drawn a blank in the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections.
According to the exit poll, the Congress has hardly recovered from its rout in 2015. But many would say that the party’s lacklustre campaign is also to blame for anti-BJP votes getting deflected towards AAP, which is tipped to get anywhere between 49 and 63 seats.
Compared to the high-voltage public meetings organised by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (AAP) across the national capital, the Congress leadership pitched in only in the last leg of the campaign.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressed only four public meetings in Delhi, including two addressed along with his sister Priyanka Gandhi. Sonia Gandhi’s maiden public meeting was cancelled due to her ill-health.
The absence of senior Congress leaders from the poll fray has also not gone down well with the party cadres and supporters. After Sonia Gandhi’s intervention, Arvinder Singh Lovely and Rajesh Lilothia entered the poll fray though senior Delhi leaders such as Ajay Maken, Kiran Walia, J.P. Agarwal and the party’s state unit President Subhash Chopra opted out.
And that is now getting reflected in the IANS-CVoter Exit Poll results, according to which the party will either draw a blank again or at best get four seats.
The Congress is expected to win from Chandni Chowk and one seat each from East Delhi, North East Delhi and South Delhi.
The projections are based on personal interviews conducted on the polling day among 18+ adults across the national capital, all confirmed voters. The sample size was 11,839 people.