Days after Lok Sabha election results, how Congress' tally may change to reach 100

As the Lok Sabha election results came out, the Congress had much to cheer about despite being on the losing side. This time, the Grand Old Party gave its best performance since 2014, bagging 99 of the 543 parliamentary seats in the Lower House.

Although it fell short of a century, that may change soon after an Independent candidate from Maharashtra offered his support to the party. With Vishal Patil’s backing, the Congress’ tally in the Lok Sabha would reach 100.

Who is he and what’s going on? Let’s take a look.

Who is Vishal Patil?

Vishal Patil is a Congress rebel who fought from the Sangli Lok Sabha constituency as an Independent after being denied a ticket by the party.

He won the seat by a margin of 100,053 votes against his nearest rival the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Sanjaykaka Patil. Chandrahar Patil of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackrey) stood third with just 60,860 votes.

A rift had emerged within the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), comprising Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), after Uddhav Thackeray’s party unilaterally nominated its candidate for Sangli.

Sangli has for long been a stronghold of Congress. As per Indian Express, the Grand Old Party had won the seat since 1962, only to lose it to the BJP in 2014 when Sanjaykaka Patil, riding on the Modi wave, defeated then Union minister and Congress leader Pratik Patil.

Sanjaykaka had retained the Sangli seat as an MP in 2019.

After Shiv Sena (UBT) announced its candidate, Vishal Patil met senior Congress leaders, including party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, but Uddhav’s party reportedly refused to budge.

As he could not get a Congress ticket, Patil decided to contest from Sangli as an Independent candidate.

Vishal, who is the grandson of former Maharashtra chief minister Vasantdada Patil, told Indian Express, that his family and Thackerays have had a “close” relationship. “Our party leaders tried their best to convince Uddhav Thackeray to field me from Sangli. However, somehow things did not work out. My family and Thackeray family have very good rapport. Now that I have been elected, I hope all the misunderstandings between us will end,” the MP-elect said.

Vishal Patil extends support to Congress

Patil on Thursday handed over his letter of support to Congress president Kharge in Delhi.

He also met Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and party leader Rahul Gandhi at their official residence.

He was accompanied by his mentor Congress MLA Vishwajeet Kadam, who as per Indian Express, had tried his best to secure a nomination for Patil.

“With Vishal Patil’s support, the Congress’ strength will go up to 100 in Lok Sabha,” Kadam said, as per NDTV.

In a post on X, Kharge said, “Welcoming the support of the elected MP from Sangli, Shri Vishal Patil to the Congress party.”

Senior Congress leader KC Venugopal mentioned the party’s “deep roots” in Sangli, adding that with this sentiment, Patil had extended “unconditional support’ to the Grand Old Party.

“This is a truly fitting move which takes the legacy of Congress stalwart Vasantdada Patil ji forward,” he wrote on X.

When asked whether he will formally join the Congress, Patil, as per The Hindu, replied, “Once you get elected as an Independent, you extend support but there are some technical difficulties in joining. After consulting experts, I will do whatever I need to do for the road ahead.”

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Will Congress touch 100-mark?

Yes, it can happen.

With Patil’s support, the Congress’ strength could reach 100 in the Lok Sabha, leaders say.

As per Indian Express, senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said Patil will become an associate member of the Grand Old Party.

“He will have to now submit a letter for becoming the associate MP of the Congress to the Lok Sabha secretariat. Only after the Lok Sabha secretariat approves it and issues gazette notification, he can be called the associate MP of Congress…Congress strength in Lok Sabha will then go up to 100,” Chavan said.

Congress delivered its best performance in the general elections since 2014. Reuters File Photo

There are also speculations that Pappu Yadav, who won from Bihar’s Purnea Lok Sabha seat as an Independent, could extend his support to the Congress. Ahead of the elections, he had merged his political outfit with the Congress with the hopes of getting a ticket from Purnea. However, the seat went to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress’ ally, during seat-sharing talks.

Narendra Modi , who is set to become India’s prime minister for a third term, has attacked the Congress for failing to cross the 100-mark on its own even after a decade.

“Even after 10 years, Congress could not touch the figure of 100 seats. If we combine the 2014, 2019, and 2024 elections… Congress did not even get as many seats as BJP got in this election. I can clearly see people of INDI Alliance were sinking slowly earlier… now they are going to sink at a faster pace…” he reportedly said on Friday.

Modi’s BJP was denied a majority by the voters this time and is now reliant on its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners, especially Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) or JD(U), to return to power for a third term.

Meanwhile, for Congress, it remains to be seen whether it will touch the 100 mark in the Lok Sabha and how soon it will happen.

With inputs from agencies