Is Congress using EVM excuse to save face after Maha poll failure? Local leaders of the party say…

Soon after the defeat in the Maharashtra assembly elections, the grand old Congress leadership began blaming the humble electronic voter machines (EVMs) for the results. While senior leaders of the party feel it is right to do this, a section of the party is uncomfortable with the approach of blaming EVMs after electoral failures.

The defeat in Maharashtra should not come as a shock for the Congress as internal polls conducted ahead of the election showed that the party was unable to sustain the gains made by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in the Lok Sabha polls. The Indian Express reported, citing local leaders.

MVA consists of Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP). In the Lok Sabha, the alliance won 30 of the 48 seats in Maharashtra. While Congress emerged as the largest party with 13 seats, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP(SP) won 9 and 8 seats.

The poll revealed that MVA had lost the advantage it gained in the general election with 103 seats in October. Of the 103 strong MVA seats, MVA was ahead in only 44 as against 54 in the Lok Sabha polls.

According to the poll, Mahayuti was leading with 56 seats. It was also concluded that MVA was ahead only in terms of Muslim votes against NDA. Overall, Mahayuti was ahead of MVA in OBC, SBC, SC, SEBC and ST segments.

Moreover, these studies showed that Mahayuti’s flagship scheme, Ladki Bahin Yojana, is gaining traction in the field.

Approximately 82 percent of participants said that a family member had benefited from the program, while 17 percent said they changed their voting preferences because of the program.

Therefore, the party’s election strategist suggested that MVA should promise financial assistance of Rs 3,000 per month to women to counter the Ladki Bahin scheme, a leader said. “Mahayuti had by then promised to revise the monthly installment under Ladki Bahin from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,100 per month.”

Given these facts, one of the leaders said the party leadership knew that MVA was struggling to sustain its Lok Sabha gains and support for Mahayuti was rising among women voters.

The leader said that despite the data available to them, the leadership is still blaming EVMs. The leader told the publication: “This suits both state leaders and national leadership. It is a statement that saves the reputation of both.”

Congress and NCP (SP) won only 16 and 10 seats respectively. Shiv Sena (UBT), on the other hand, emerged as the star performer by winning 20 seats. With this, the total number of seats of MVA increases to 46.

This will also be the first time in history that the Maharashtra legislature will not have an opposition leader as no party has the required number of seats.

In order for a party to get the LoP mandate in the state assembly, it must have at least 10 percent of the total power of the assembly. For a party to elect an opposition leader, 29 out of 288 members must be MLAs.