Indian elections: Is this the Return of the Congress?

Since its devastating loss in the 2014 Indian General Elections, the Indian National Congress (INC) has faltered and ceded ground to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the state and national level. 2014 saw the worst showing for the INC in a General Election.

This was fueled three factors. The first was by a large wave of anti-incumbency sentiment following its 10-year term at the helm of the country as the leader of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). The second was its inability to present a lasting and coherent vision for the country and lack of strong and charismatic leadership. The final major factor was the charisma of the BJPs prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi and his message of “development”.

So severe was the Congress’s defeat that they did not win enough seats to even form the opposition party at the national level. Since then a string of misfortunes have led to nineteen states in the country to be ruled by the BJP on its own or in alliance.

Even though the INC was not able to win the recent elections in the state of Gujarat, there was a lot of positives that came out of it. In the state ruled by the BJP for the past 22 years and home of the BJP’s two leading figures Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. the INC increased in its vote share and number of seats won from the previous state elections in 2012; and delivering it’s best showing in 30 years. This revival has curtailed the BJP majority in the state to 99 seats; less than what exit polls predicted and less significantly less than the 150-seat target it set for itself.