Delhi Congress headquarters wears a desolate look as the party faces

The office of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee in the national capital continued to wear a desolate look on Tuesday as the trends indicated a repeat of 2015 results with a crushing defeat for the party in the Assembly elections.

The Indian National Congress (INC) could not open its account for the Delhi Assembly polls, even after five hours of counting of votes, which began at 8 am today.

Congress has not only been decimated but its vote share, currently at a little over 4.2 per cent, too is quite unlikely to match the low but slightly better, percentage of 9.7 it had been able to secure in the 2015 Assembly elections in the national capital.

 

Earlier taking responsibility for the party's dismal performance in the Assembly polls, Delhi unit chief Subhash Chopra blamed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for carrying out politics of polarization which resulted in a dip in the Congress' vote percentage.

"I take responsibility for the party's performance, we will analyse the factors behind this. Reason for the drop in our vote percentage is politics of polarization by both BJP and AAP," Chopra told ANI on Monday.

"It's been three months since I took over as the party chief and I did the best of my capability. If anybody is to be blamed, it's Subhash Chopra," he added.

Chopra added that Congress has always stood against the communal forces and we'll always remain against BJP till the end.

However, this crushing defeat twice in a row, with zero seats in the party's kitty in the national capital is likely to raise questions on the party leadership.

In the counting of votes for 2020 Delhi Assembly Elections, the trends for all 70 seats suggested the AAP heading for a clear win with its candidates leading on 57 seats, according to Election Commission.

The BJP, on the other hand emerged as winning in 13 seats, with the Congress yet to open its account, according to Election Commission trends at 1:15 pm.

The counting of votes for 70 seats of the Delhi Assembly began amid tight security at 8 am today. Delhi went to polls in a single-phase on February 8.