The Congress failed to open its account in the by-elections held for 28 Legislative Council seats across four states. The party contested 12 of these seats, four of which it had won previously.
It had won one of these seats in the previous election, but this time, it did not appear as a serious contender for any of them. In contrast, Sharad Pawar’s party won both seats it contested. After negotiations failed, the RJD and Congress went their separate ways. The Congress fielded candidates for five out of the eight seats. Despite claiming an equal standing with the Samajwadi Party regarding seat-sharing for the upcoming UP Assembly elections, the Congress did not field a single candidate in the Legislative Council (MLC) elections.
Ironically, while the NCP (SP) candidate for the Pune Graduates’ constituency received over 100,000 votes, the Congress candidate for the Pune Teachers’ constituency secured fewer than 10,000 votes.
In the Darbhanga Teachers’ constituency – a seat previously held by former state Congress president Madan Mohan Jha – Prashant Kishor’s party secured a victory, marking its electoral debut. Two of the three seats contested by the Congress were previously held by the party, yet it failed to win any.
