Delhi Assembly Elections 2025: Congress targets 15% vote with door-to-door drive

With just a fortnight left for the Delhi elections, the Congress is in a do-or-die battle to increase its vote share to at least 15 per cent, around four times from 2020, and aims to win half a dozen seats through a concentrated campaign in Dalit and minority-dominated seats.

The party will soon launch its door-to-door campaign to distribute its guarantee cards across the capital, which were successfully used during the elections in Karnataka, Telangana and the Lok Sabha polls. Top leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will hold rallies and ‘padayatras'.

Sources said the party is trying to make Delhi polls a triangular fight even though the AAP and its chief Arvind Kejriwal are largely ignoring the Congress as an insignificant player and not reacting to comments made even by Rahul Gandhi.

Senior leaders involved in Delhi campaigning countered, saying that if the AAP considers them insignificant, why are they using I.N.D.I.A. allies to pressure the grand old party into announcing support for them.

The Congress has identified 20 seats where it believes its candidates have a stronger chance compared to other constituencies. Sources say they have chosen leaders with significant social capital to contest these seats. “We are running a candidate-centric campaign,” a senior leader said.

The leaders believe their first step is to regain the space they had in 2013 when they were relegated to third position behind the BJP and AAP with eight seats. “To reach the 2008 position when we had 43 seats and around 40 per cent votes, we need to first reach somewhere near 2013,” the leader reasoned.

A Congress campaign manager said their aim in this election is at least 15 per cent votes, compared to 4.23 per cent in 2020, and 5-6 seats. The Congress had not won a single seat in the 2015 and 2020 elections. The confidence in regaining space comes from the perceived anger of Dalits and minorities against the AAP.

The Congress is highlighting in its micro-campaigns that the AAP ousted Dalit ministers, including Rajendra Pal Gautam, and failed to appoint a Dalit deputy chief minister in Punjab as promised during the Assembly elections.

It is also attacking the AAP over its alleged silence during the Delhi riots and targeting of Tablighi Jamaat during Covid-19. “We are telling people that the AAP is highly compromised and not beneficial to the underprivileged,” the leader said.

It will also field its chief ministers and former CMs to highlight the Congress model of governance. 

Telangana CM Revanth Reddy and Himachal CM Sukhwinder Sukhu, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and former CMs and deputy CMs Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, Charanjit Singh Channi and Sachin Pilot have already been named among the 40 star campaigners.