Mumbai: In an election seen as essential to its relevance in Mumbai, the Congress has registered its worst-ever efficiency, successful simply 24 seats within the Brihanmumbai Municipal Company (BMC), sliding down even from its earlier lowest tally of 31.

When Mumbai voted within the BMC elections Thursday after a nine-year hole, the Congress returned to the civic battleground from a place far faraway from the dominance it as soon as loved within the metropolis the place it was based.

Within the BMC polls, the get together contested 143 of the 227 seats, whereas its ally Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) had contested 42.

In accordance with the Maharashtra Election Fee information, the Congress received 24 seats, recording its worst-ever efficiency in Mumbai, decrease even than the 31 it received within the 2017 BMC elections.

The Congress’s efficiency appears to have taken a beating amid the surge of the Mahayuti in Mumbai and the attraction of the reunion of the Thackeray cousins—Uddhav and Raj—and their events.

Within the outcomes declared Friday, the BJP emerged as the one largest get together by successful 89 seats, adopted by Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) with 65 seats, Shiv Sena (SHinde faction) with 29 seats. The Indian Nationwide Congress received 24 seats, the AIMIM eight seats. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) received six seats, and the Nationalist Congress Celebration (NCP) three.

The BMC, India’s richest civic physique, was as soon as central to the Congress’s political presence in Mumbai. Over the previous decade, nonetheless, the get together has steadily pale from town’s municipal energy construction.

Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee Common Secretary Dhananjay Shinde mentioned the get together didn’t take pleasure in any malpractices. “We fought the elections with out utilizing cash recklessly, with none malpractices, and we stayed grounded in our ideology of working for the individuals”.

“I name this a major victory and achievement. Given the statistics and our efforts, we’ve got fared properly, given the truth that lots of people have left us prior to now. The corrupt leaders went elsewhere,” he advised ThePrint.

He additional added, “Now we have a 2029 imaginative and prescient—to contest the elections inside the Constitutional framework utilizing the get together’s core worth system, as we’ve got this time and all of the instances prior to now. Our core worth stays the identical, to struggle for the individuals and supply them with the essential wants as we are saying roti, kapda and makan. That work needs to be accomplished with honesty and with none discrimination and corruption like these others have accomplished.”

He mentioned his get together’s district committees had autonomy in selecting how they needed to contest the elections and who they needed as their candidates.

“There was a decentralisation of authority, energy and decision-making course of. They determined autonomously whether or not to run independently or in an alliance that matched the get together’s ideology. The candidates had been additionally chosen by them in all of the completely different areas. The credit score for this autonomous strategy in the direction of candidacy goes to Harshwardhan Sakpal (Maharashtra Congress president).”

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Congress’s slide in BMC

The get together’s vote share within the company slid from 26.48 % in 2002 and 26.38 % in 2007, to 21.23 % in 2012, and 15.94 % in 2017, when Mumbai civic physique voted final, in keeping with information from the Maharashtra Election Fee.

Within the 2017 civic polls, the Congress had received 31 of 227 seats, a pointy fall from the 52 it secured in 2012. Within the 2017 polls, the get together was pushed to 3rd place because the BJP made main positive aspects in what had lengthy been a Shiv Sena stronghold, successful 82 seats, simply two wanting the Sena’s (undivided) figures. The NCP (undivided) and the MNS had been lowered to 9 and 7 seats, respectively.

Within the years following the 2017 defeat, the Congress has struggled to regain floor in Mumbai. The get together has confronted a mix of challenges—a weakened grassroots presence, declining attraction amongst middle-class and youthful voters, and the excessive price of campaigning in a megacity the place elections demand in depth assets and visibility.

This decline was compounded by the extended delay in holding BMC elections. Litigation over ward delimitation and OBC reservation stored the civic physique beneath administrator’s rule for years, denying the Congress a chance to rebuild its presence by means of native illustration.

Throughout this era, rivals consolidated their affect by means of state and nationwide energy, whereas Congress’s visibility in civic governance continued to decrease.

Organisational decline & factionalism

The electoral slide has been accompanied by deepening organisational issues inside the Mumbai Congress.

For years, town unit has seen a number of factions, inside rivalries and management tussles, which have weakened coordination on the bottom and damage voter outreach. Celebration employees and leaders have usually complained about decision-making being confined to small teams, with repeated disputes over ticket distribution and technique eroding morale on the grassroots.

Senior leaders have acknowledged that the absence of robust, unifying figures—such because the late Murli Deora and Gurudas Kamat, who as soon as held the unit collectively—has widened inside divisions.

A number of long-standing leaders earlier advised ThePrint about being sidelined from key choices, contributing to disengagement and drift inside the get together’s Mumbai organisation.

The pressure has additionally mirrored in high-profile exits, most notably that of Milind Deora, as soon as seen as a key face of the Congress in Mumbai, who resigned as Mumbai Congress president in July 2019 and left the get together for the Shiv Sena in January 2024.

His departure was broadly seen as symptomatic of deeper structural points inside the get together’s metropolis unit, reasonably than an remoted political transfer.

(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)

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