After heavy defeat in MCD polls, Congress to rework strategy, says Delhi unit chief

New Delhi: A day after the Congress' dismal showing in the MCD elections, the party's Delhi unit chief on Thursday said they wanted to rework the strategies.

The Congress' vote share in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections dipped to 11.68 per cent from 21.2 per cent, with the party managing to secure only nine seats in the 250-ward civic body.

The party will analyse the results and the strategies worked on accordingly, Congress Delhi unit chief Anil Chaudhary told PTI.

"The party's strategies will be reworked after analysing the MCD election results. But the vote share also sends out a clear message that the Muslim and Dalit votes shifted from the AAP to the Congress," he said.

Most of the seats the party won in the MCD election are in Muslim-dominated areas.

The party's women candidates won from two wards in south Delhi, including in Shaheen Bagh -- the epicentre of the 2019 anti-CAA protests -– defeating their AAP rivals.

The Congress is also drawing solace from comparing its vote share in the MCD polls with the 2020 assembly elections.

"Our vote share jumped from 4.26 per cent (in the 2020 assembly elections) to 11.68 per cent (in the MCD polls). We did better than the previous elections. The minority community and Dalits have shown support to us," Chaudhary said.

However, not every Congress leader has shared Chaudhary's optimism.

Rajya Sabha MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi took to social media to express disappointment at the party's performance in the civic polls.

"Although it's nice to see a tightly contested election between AAP and BJP, I am deeply disappointed at Congress result. Introspection and structural change vital!" he said in a tweet.

The AAP ended the BJP's 15-year stint in the MCD -- trifurcated in 2012 into north, south and east corporations and unified this year -- by winning 134 seats while restricting the BJP to 104 seats. The Congress won just nine seats while three wards went to Independent candidates.

Polling was held on December 4 and the results were announced on Wednesday.