Gurdaspur & Vengara polls: It isn't Cong's comeback but failure of AAP, BJP

More interesting challenges and by-polls that could provide clues to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls are around the corner

Its victory in the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha by-poll has brought the Congress party some cheer. The by-poll on the Vengara Assembly seat in Kerala has also been won by an ally of the Congress.

However, the story of these two by-polls isn't as much about the revival of the Congress as it is about the failure of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to consolidate in Punjab and the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) inability to make inroads in Kerala.

The Congress has indeed wrested the Gurdaspur seat from the BJP. The seat has been a BJP bastion since 1998, thanks primarily