The ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges in our lives. The effects of demonetization, mismanagement of covid-19 in many parts of India, Job crisis and the low number of sitting in the parliament where vital issues are being discussed and debated and above all the role of opposition parties in raising the voice of voiceless people are the major cause of concern. The recent developments in Indian Electoral Politics have changed the narratives and our perspectives too about the style of leadership, hereditary nature of Indian leadership, the role of coherent ideology, the manner in which decisions being made and implemented and political parties approach towards reaching the various social groups, etc.  As many political experts say that despite having declined in electoral politics since 2014, one cannot imagine the Indian politics without the Congress party and it still plays a pivot role.    

This article has focused on the current state of Indian politics and the speedy decline of the Congress party from National politics particularly after 2014 and the possible ways forward. 

  Glimpses of INC performance in the general election from 2004 to 2019  

From 2004 to 2014 the congress party with help of other regional parties was able to form a govt. by defeating the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP.  

However, there are many theories, as propagated by political experts, around the decline of the Congress party. Many political pundits have argued that it has created a space for political entrepreneurs that led to various corruption scams such as the earlier Bofors scam, 2G scam, Sahara Scam, and poor governance system while others believed that lack of charismatic leadership, connectivity with masses, and social engineering of caste groups, etc. Many political observers even including ex-congress leaders (now in BJP) have mentioned that their personal growth has stagnated and decision-making process has been hijacked by a few veteran leaders that led to suffocation. For instance, referring to Rahul Gandhi, “Our once and future king” tweeted by a senior leader of the Congress party on the death anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi. What does it show? Do we believe in democracy or chamchagiri?  While on other hand pursuing president Pranab Mukherjee and giving a warm and emotional farewells to senior leader Gulan Nabi Azad was another political gesture of BJP.

Politicians Who Thought to Left the INC

1. Milind Deora who thought to left the INC as INC didn’t like his idea on  Article 370. Since he supported the BJP’s strong decision on the suspension of Article 370 but congress party simply opposed his ideological stand.
2. Sachin Pilot was another politician who was quite in news for going against the INC. The simple reason going against the party in Rajasthan was all hard work and Party campaigning was done by him but CM candidature offered to Ashok Gahlot.

All is not well in the Congress

Here is the list of prominent leaders who were earlier in the congress party but now have left and joined BJP as if   

1. Jitin Prasad
2. Jyotiraditya Scindia
3. Chaudhary Birender Singh
4. Rita Bahuguna Joshi
5. Tom Vedakkan and the list goes on.

 Many political scientists believe that lack of consistency in policy decisions and policy actions, no coherent ideological commitment, growing Left-Congress synergy, and of course lack of personal growth of leaders, etc. are the possible reasons. For instance, Left-Congress Synergy has been unproductive as well as confusing for common party workers. In West Bengal they (Congress and Left together) fought election against Mamta Banerjee but what about in Kerala where Congress and Left parties were contested against each other. 

Way forward

In the 2019 general election Rahul Gandhi was defeated by Smriti Irani in the Amethi Lok Sabha seat but manage to get elected from Wayanad (Kerala). In August 2020, G-23 i.e. 23 senior leaders of the Congress party have expressed their concerns to interim party Chief Sonia Gandhi. They have expressed their views on the poor performance of the Congress party in two consecutive general elections, bringing all structural reforms, self-introspection, and strategizing for upcoming elections. Even the post of Congress party president is still waiting for a full-time president. It was a clear political gesture to the congress party to rethink or purnavichar, restructure its party composition and bring fresh and young people to the party. But as being acknowledged by BJP-RSS senior leaders that still the congress party is the biggest challenger to the BJP party despite having a continuous decline. It is because it has managed to secure approx. 20% of total votes in two general elections i.e. 2014 and 2019 while the rest of the parties (excluding BJP) were not able to cross double-digit. It means at the bottom side it has maintained the status quo. Any increase in this percentage will surely affect the BJP vote share and would have led to a coalition government as well. Gandhi’s Family is still key to the Congress party that’s why Modi-Shah led BJP party keeps on attacking Gandhi Family. The Congress party needs to focus on

1. To understand the changing nature of young voters, their aspirations and demography dividend and do all needful accordingly  
2. Innovative political Strategies and to communicate the masses at a large scale by judicious utilization of ICT platform. 
3. To provide some paces to local/regional parties and help them to form stable government where the Congress party is not in majority. Do not become power-hungry but adaptive according to the prevailing political scenario.
4. Of course restructure its political organization or even vacating various seats as well otherwise many more leaders are waiting to join the BJP.  

 In a major development in the political chaos of Madhya Pradesh, the Congress party has released a list of candidates for by elections in MP. The initial list consists of fifteen candidates and then next list of remaining candidates will be released soon. The list from other major parties like the ruling BJP and BSP are expected to be get released soon.

INC 1st Candidate List for  Madhya Pradesh By-Elections 2020

Aaj Tak opinion/Exit poll

Delhi voting today for the much-awaited Delhi assembly elections 2020. Polling started at 8 am and will continue till 6 pm on Saturday. Soon after the polling process is complete, exit poll results will start trickling in, including that of India Today TV and Aaj Tak.

Delhi Assembly Election Exit Poll 2020: The final results of the exit poll for the Delhi Assembly Election have come out. The exit poll results show that the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi can return to power with a strong majority. The final results of the exit poll showed that the AAP could win 59 to 68 seats.

While BJP is estimated to get 2 to 11 seats. This exit poll has been prepared by Aaj Tak and Axis My India after talking to 14,000 people in Delhi. In this election, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), BJP and Congress are mainly in power. A total of 672 candidates are trying their luck in this election. The fate of all the candidates has been captured in EVMs. The election results will come on 11 February.

source AAJ Tak

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The Legislative Assembly of Delhi, also known as Delhi Vidhan Sabha, is a unicameral lawmaking body of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, one of the 9 union territories in India. It is situated at Delhi, the state capital of Delhi, with 70 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA).

"Out of total 668 candidates for 70 Assembly seats in Delhi, a maximum 28 are contesting from New Delhi and a minimum four are contesting from Patel Nagar Assembly constituencies," said the Election Commission (EC) in a statement. 

5 factors that will determine who wins Delhi Assembly election

1. Kejriwal’s good governance plank
2. Modi wave
3. Ability of congress to make inroads
4. Caste and community sentiments
5. Bijli-paani-sadak: issues of public concern

Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ranbir Singh said there are total 1,46,92,136 voters -- 80,55,686 males, 66,35,635 females and 815 belonging to third gender -- in the final voters list. 

Singh said all voters will be provided QR code-enabled voters slip which will speed up voting through easy identification.

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The number of voters in various categories include overseas voter (489), service voters (11,556), voters in age group 18-19 years (2,08,883) and aged above 80 years (2,05,035), and specially challenged (55,823).

There are 13,750 polling booths located at 2,689 locations across Delhi.

Legislative Assembly elections will be held in Delhi in February 2020 to elect 70 members of the Delhi Legislative Assembly The term of the current assembly elected in 2015 will expire on 22 February 2020

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It’s very difficult to predict 2020 Delhi elections as there still are nearly 3 months left.

But as per the current scenario, there is no doubt that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has created much hype of the work performed by Kejriwal government and started rigorous campaigning for 2020 Assembly Elections in Delhi.

Leadtech helps the political parties to strategize the election, also conducts a political survey to understand the current election trends and issues which are impactful at the grassroots level. 

 The Delhi Legislative Assembly election was held on 7 February 2015 to elect 70 members of the Sixth Legislative Assembly of Delhi. The results were announced on 10 February 2015. The Aam Aadmi Party secured an absolute majority in the assembly, winning 67 of the 70 seats.

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It would be interesting to see the following answers in the election study of Delhi 2020?

1) What would be the impact of Mohalla clinic whether people are impressed with services and situation at Mohalla clinic or they are very upset? What is the ground reality?

2) Demolition drive has been conducted almost every year so whom people are blaming? Whether they considering this drive good or bad?

3) What would be the Delhi voter’s mood on the development in education sectors? Is it only hype or real changes have been made?

4) Who would be the CM face from BJP? Whom BJP will declare as their Chief Ministerial candidate? 

To know the answers to these questions, you can actually follow us on twitter and facebook. 

If anyone is interested in hiring Leadtech for Delhi's political survey or full election campaign management, please contact info@leadtech.in or call 9650060882.

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The first phase of voting for the Jharkhand assembly elections starts today. Thirteen constituencies of six districts of Jharkhand will go for the first phase of the Jharkhand assembly election today, with a state minister and state PCC president being the main contestants.

A total of 37,83,055 voters, including 18,01,356 women and five third gender voters who are eligible to exercise their franchise, will decide the fate of 189 candidates in the first phase. The five-phase voting will take place on December 20 and the result will be announced on December 23.

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The first phase will witness several constituencies including Naxal-affected areas like Latehar, Lohardaga, Chatra, Gumla, Manika, Panki and Daltonganj. BJP is contesting 12 seats in the first phase, while it is supporting Independent Vinod Singh from Hussainabad. Opposition coalitions of JMM, Congress and RJD are contesting in four, six and three constituencies respectively.

Prominent candidates in the fray are BJP candidate and Jharkhand Health Minister Rama Chandra Chandravanshi and Jharkhand PCC President and former IPS officer Rameshwar Oraon.

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Polling percentage recorded in Ranchi so far:

Voter turn out at 2 pm

The overall voter turnout in Jharkhand was 46.83 percent till 2 pm. The election commission released the voter turnout data for each district, according to which, Bhawanathpur had the best start with over 53 percent turnout till 1 pm. Meanwhile, Bishunpur showed the least voter turnout with 41.39 percent amid all 13 seats in Phase 1 of Jharkhand Assembly elections.

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Karnataka election JDS ticket declared, Karnataka Vidhan Sabha Election Candidate, JDS releases candidate List for Karnataka

By-elections to fifteen state assembly constituencies will be going to held in Karnataka on 5 Dec 2019. It will be considered to be a mini-assembly election battle for the power in Karnataka. The ruling government has to prove its majority while the opposition will trying hard to get maximum seats. 

JDS 1st Candidate List for Karnataka By-Elections 2019

The election commission on Saturday announced the schedule for the assembly election in these two states, fixing October 4 as the last date to receive the nomination.

The BJP Party is expected to release its first list of candidates for the Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections in the auspicious period of Navratra.

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Polling for 288 seats of Maharashtra and 90 seats of Haryana will take place on October 21, while results will be declared on October 24.

A BJP leader said, “The meeting of the central election committee of the BJP is expected to take place after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns from the US visit”. The PM is expected to return in India by October 28 evening.

A BJP leader from Haryana said that the screening of candidates for both the states is almost complete, and they are now waiting for the party high command to call the meeting of the central election committee to finalise the candidate list”.

A Maharashtra BJP leader also said that even they are also ready with a panel of candidates for seats that they intend to contest. They will announce these candidates soon.

The BJP won Maharashtra and Haryana for the first time in 2014. It got a majority in Haryana and emerged as the single largest party in Maharashtra.

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The BJP did not have an alliance with Shiv Sena in the last assembly election and the two parties are discussing a seat-sharing formula for the October polls. The ruling party will go it alone in Haryana.

Recently, MNS chief Raj Thackeray had strongly objected against the EVMs while demanding the use of ballot paper in the assembly election.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray is likely to announce whether his party will contest the upcoming state assembly polls or not. The MNS chief is expected to speak in front of party workers at Rangsharda Hall in Bandra.

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Earlier, MNS had clarified that they won’t contest 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. However, Raj Thackeray launched an aggressive campaign across Maharashtra against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena, urging the voters in public rallies to vote against the duo of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.

Currently, Raj Thackeray has objected to the use of EVM in the election process. The MNS chief met UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee while seeking their support for the same.

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Many well-known opposition leaders and parties in Maharashtra have unitedly raised objections against EVMs, demanding the use of ballot paper in the election process. The opposition announced that they would organize a protest in Mumbai on 21 August against the EVM scam.