Highhandedness, infighting and complacency are the three major reasons that led to the downfall of the Congress in Haryana. Boosted by the presence of senior Jat leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the party thought that it would easily grab the power with the support of the majority community in the state which comprises of nearly 27 per cent of the electorate. The party was also so confident about its victory that it refused to enter into a seat-sharing arrangement with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), despite the alliance delivering the goods in the general elections held earlier this year. But the primary analysis of the election results indicates that the results could have been different if these two parties had joined hands. The failure has made a crucial difference as both the Congress and the BJP have got almost equal percentage of votes. While BJP got 39.9 percent votes, the Congress managed to get 39.1 percent. Clearly, nearly two percent votes gathered by AAP could change Congress’ fortune in at least 10 seats where the Congress has lost by less than five thousands votes, had the party come to a pre-poll understanding with AAP. It may be argued that the Congress also won seven seats where the victory margins are less than five thousand. But the voting pattern indicated that in those seats the Congress’ votes would have definitely increased if these two parties had fought elections together. It is due to this big-brother attitude, the Congress has virtually gifted Haryana to the BJP, for a record third time.
The theory propounded by the Congress that the support of the Jats would be enough to snatch power from the BJP was a faulty one as non-Jat vote in the state is nearly 54 per cent which is divided between the other backward community (OBC) and the Dalits. Despite the Dalit’s vote share of nearly 21 per cent in Haryana, the Jat lobby within the Congress had completely sidelined Kumari Saleja, the party’s tallest Dalit leader in the state. From finalising the party’s strategy to selection of candidates and even during campaigning, the Jat leaders continued to ignore Kumari Saleja, a formidable force in Haryana politics. The situation reached such a point that speculations were rife that the Dalit leader would quit the party. However, timely intervention by the Congress high command prevented the split, but failed to garner the Dalit votes. If the party had projected its Dalit faces prominently, things could have been different as the electoral analysis indicates.
Moreover, the Congress was so confident about regaining power in Haryana after a decade that it didn’t campaign vigorously unlike the BJP, which banked on to door-to-door campaigning rather than organising big rallies. During the last Assembly election in Haryana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed 10 meetings, but this time he attended only four. It proves that elections are won on the basis of organisational strength and not by the presence of popular leaders, a shortcoming which has cost the Congress dearly in the Haryana election.
