Till 2017, when the last Urban Local Body (ULB) elections in Uttar Pradesh were held, the Congress used to win over 100 corporator seats in municipal corporations and significant number of seats in both Nagar Palika Parishads and Nagar Panchayats, despite being out of power in the state since 1989. Looking at its returns from the 2023 ULB polls, in which not only did it fail to win any of the 17 mayoral seats, but also saw its numbers on other posts fall to a record low - 77 corporators out of 1,420, four Nagar Panchayat chairperson posts out of 199, and a mere 14 Nagar Panchayat chairperson posts out of 544 that went to the polls - one would be persuaded to believe the popular doomsday narrative about the party's fortunes in the state. However, there's actually cause for some hope for it. At a time when the BSP's numbers have shrunk drastically, it is the close fight given by Congress candidates on some of the seats, which has given some hope to the party for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2024, in which it hopes to present itself as a nationwide alternative to the dominant BJP. “There are a few factors that are looking promising for the Congress from these elections. While results show voters no longer trust local parties, and are searching for other options against the BJP, Congress has been able to reach out more to the grassroots, i.e. Nagar Panchayats. Keeping the numbers aside, our candidates have given good fights at all levels,” Congress state president Brijlal Khabri told The Indian Express. He further said, “When we start preparations for the Lok Sabha elections, we'll begin with a divisional review of the ULB poll results to understand what worked for the party and its candidates, what did not, and what our strengths were.” While Khabri did not reveal anything more, a close look at the results show that irrespective of the lower numbers compared to previous polls, Congress candidates gave close fights to BJP candidates on quite a few seats, including that of the mayor in cities like Moradabad, Shahjahanpur and Jhansi. In Moradabad, where the winning BJP candidate Vinod Agrawal got 1.21 lakh votes i.e. about 41.71% of the total votes polled, Congress candidate Mohd Rizwan came second with about 1.17 lakh votes (40.46%). Barring the BJP, all other opposition parties, including the SP, the BSP and the Congress had put up Muslim candidates, but it was the Congress candidate who gave a close fight, while the BSP and SP candidates ended up with around 5 per cent votes each. Similarly, in the newly formed Shahjahanpur Municipal Corporation, while former Congress worker Archana Verma won as the BJP candidate with about 80,000 votes i.e. 49%, the Congress candidate Nikhat Iqbal stood second with 50,484 votes i.e. about 31%. The SP candidate Mala Rathore got about 12%, while Shafugta Anjum of the BSP, which had experimented with a Muslim-Dalit social engineering in this election, got about 3.4% of the total votes polled. In Jhansi Municipal Corporation, where the BJP's Bihari Lal Arya won by getting 123503 votes (57%), Ram Das of the Congress came second. Though the victory margin was huge, the Congress candidate got about 18.47% of the total votes polled, with BSP and SP candidates coming third and fourth respectively, getting around 9% votes each. Meanwhile in Varanasi, where the Congress candidate stood third, he managed to get about 94,000 votes i.e. 15% of the vote share, against the BJP's Ashok Kumar Tiwari, who won by getting about 2.9 lakh votes (46%) followed by Om Prakash Singh of the SP, who got 1.58 lakh votes (25%). Congress leaders said while they are analysing the numbers, their candidates gave close fights to the BJP on many Nagar Panchayat and Nagar Palika Parishad seats as well. “At a time when Karnataka Assembly results have given our cadre a boost, even these small victories and close fights are heartwarming. These results will help us prepare our strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, where we'll present ourselves as the main alternative to the BJP, considering that the public has not considered the SP or the BSP as an alternative even in these ULB polls. This gives us an edge,” said a senior party leader, as the party prepared to review the results and sit down to discuss strategy with its cadres. It may be mentioned that unlike in the past, this time all the parties had aggressively participated in the ULB polls, fielding candidates under their banners at all levels. Congress at ULBs in UP 2023 Mayor-0 Corporators- 77 NPP Chairmen- 4 NP Charmen- 14 2017 Mayor -0 Corporators - 110 NPP Chairmen- 9 NP Chairmen – 17 2012 Mayor – 0 Corporators- 100 NPP Chairmen- 14 NP Chairmen- 21 2006 Mayor- 3 out of 12 Corporators- 151 NPP Chairman- 17 NP Chairmen- 26
