New Delhi, October 29, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Congress has some reason to celebrate its solitary victory in the biennial Legislative Council (MLC) elections held for 28 seats across four states, even though its strike rate stood at a modest 3.57 per cent, with several of its regional allies performing better.
Across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Karnataka, the Congress won just one seat, in Maharashtra’s Nagpur Graduates’ constituency.
The victory helped the party avoid a complete washout, a prospect that had loomed large before the Nagpur result was officially declared. Several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders had taken digs at the Congress on social media over what they described as its “zero” achievement.
With Abhijeet Wanjari retaining the Nagpur seat, the Congress can argue that it continues to enjoy support in certain pockets. However, the consolation comes against the backdrop of a complete wipeout in Karnataka, where the party is in power. The loss in the high-profile Bengaluru Teachers’ constituency was particularly significant.
Despite its relatively weaker performance in recent general elections, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) constituent Janata Dal (Secular) delivered a setback to the Congress in Karnataka. Its candidate, A.P. Ranganath, defeated sitting Congress MLC Puttanna by around 900 votes.
Losing an incumbent seat in the state capital region was a major blow, particularly as Puttanna is a veteran leader and a sitting member of the Legislative Council. The Nagpur victory offered the Congress some consolation amid another setback in Bihar’s Darbhanga Teachers’ constituency.
New entrants such as the Prashant Kishor-founded Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) also registered breakthrough victories at the Congress’s expense. The loss in Darbhanga was arguably among the party’s most painful defeats, as its candidate Madan Mohan Jha, a sitting MLC and two-time winner, lost to JSP nominee Suresh Prasad Rai in a closely contested election.
Reports also suggested that the INDIA bloc’s votes were divided because the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), led by Lalu Yadav, fielded its own candidate, allegedly hurting the Congress’s traditional support base.
Without the Nagpur victory, a zero-seat tally would have created a far more damaging political narrative for the Congress. The country’s grand old party has been struggling to reach a three-digit tally in the Lok Sabha and has suffered successive setbacks in Assembly elections. It has increasingly depended on regional parties during general elections, while its influence has diminished in several states.
For regional leaders, alliances with the Congress are often tactical arrangements intended to prevent the division of votes. Such parties may allocate a limited number of seats to the Congress to preserve their combined support base, an arrangement that can also be pursued at the national level.
As in Legislative Assemblies, every MLC seat in states with bicameral legislatures contributes to a party’s representation in the Legislative Council.
For the Congress, even a single additional member can provide a platform to participate in debates, committees and legislative coordination. The Nagpur victory may also offer a psychological and organisational boost to a party that has struggled across several constituencies, giving its workers and local leaders a result around which to rally.
Congress leaders can also point to Nagpur’s political significance in Maharashtra to argue that the party retains influence among specific voter groups, including graduates.
The solitary win gives the Congress grounds to describe the results as “mixed” rather than a complete rejection. Nevertheless, the broader outcome underlined the party’s weak overall performance, while the BJP and its allies secured a majority of the seats contested.
For the Opposition bloc, the principal electoral battles in these states increasingly revolved around regional parties, including the RJD in Bihar, the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, and the Nationalist Congress Party–Sharadchandra Pawar and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) in Maharashtra. The results further highlighted the Congress’s diminishing influence in several regional political arenas.
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