Congress loses big names, big elections in a decade
Updated: Apr 8th, 2024
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| Congress party |
As a spree of leaders is seen switching parties as the Lok Sabha elections inch closer, the overall numbers paint a worrisome picture for the Congress party, which has seen more than 50 stalwart leaders, including 12 former chief ministers, ditching the GOP.
Moreover, these exits have affected their performances in elections across the nation in the past. The party has lost a total of 46 elections in the past 10 years, including two Lok Sabha as well as several state assembly elections.
Party leaders switching sides
In this election year, the party was drastically affected as some of its loyalist leaders quit the party.
These include the likes of Milind Deora, Geeta Koda, Baba Siddique, Rajesh Mishra, Ambrish Der, Jagat Bahadur Singh ‘Annu’, Chandmal Jain, Basavaraj Patil, Naran Rathwa, Vijender Singh, Sanjay Nirupam, and Gaurav Vallabh.
13 former chief ministers who have abandoned the party over the course of around 10 years include Shankersinh Vaghela, Ashok Chavan, Kiran Kumar Reddy, Digambar Kamat, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ravi Naik, Captain Amarinder Singh, Luizinho Faleiro, SM Krishna, ND Tiwari, Pema Khandu, Ajit Jogi, and Vijay Bahuguna.
All of the leaders joined the BJP, except three, who formed their own parties.
Two sitting chief ministers, Hemanta Biswa Sarma and N Biren Singh, were also part of the Congress.
Stalwart leaders who have left the party in the past further include Chaudhary Birender Singh, Ranjeet Deshmukh, GK Vasan, Jayanthi Natarajan, Rita Bahuguna Joshi, T Vadakkan, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Dr KP Yadav, Priyanka Chaturvedi, PC Chacko, Jitin Prasad, Sushmita Dev, Lalitesh Tripathi, Pankaj Malik, Harendra Malik, Imran Masood, Aditi Singh, Supriya Aron, RPN Singh, Ashwani Kumar, Ripun Bora, Hardik Patel, Sunil Kumar Jakhar, Kapil Sibal, Kuldeep Bishnoi, Jaiveer Shergill, Anil Antony, and CR Kesavan.
Major losses in elections
These exits have caused heavy losses for the party across the nation. Congress has suffered losses in a total of 46 elections during this tenure.
These losses include:
Lok Sabha elections 2014, 2019
Himachal Pradesh assembly elections 2017
Madhya Pradesh assembly elections 2023
Uttarakhand assembly elections 2017, 2022
Uttar Pradesh assembly elections 2017, 2022
Rajasthan assembly elections 2023
Gujarat assembly elections 2017, 2022
Chhattisgarh assembly elections 2023
Bihar assembly elections 2015, 2020
Jharkhand assembly elections 2014
Sikkim assembly elections 2014, 2019
Assam assembly elections 2016, 2021
Arunachal Pradesh assembly elections 2019
Nagaland assembly elections 2018, 2023
Manipur assembly elections 2022
Mizoram assembly elections 2018
Tripura assembly elections 2018, 2023
Meghalaya assembly elections 2023
West Bengal assembly elections 2016, 2021
Maharashtra assembly elections 2014, 2019
Odisha assembly elections 2014, 2019
Goa assembly elections 2017, 2022
Karnataka assembly elections 2018
Telangana assembly elections 2018
Andhra Pradesh assembly elections 2014, 2019
Tamil Nadu assembly elections 2016, 2021
Kerala assembly elections 2016, 2021
Punjab assembly elections 2022
Haryana assembly elections 2014, 2019
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