In 1971, the Congress got more than 50% votes in 12 states under Indira Gandhi by winning 352 seats of the Lok Sabha 518 seats. In 1980, Indira Congress won 353 seats out of 542 with 13 states giving more than 50% votes to the party. During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the NDA got 39% votes with the BJP getting 30%, LJP 6% and RLSP 3%. It did work during the 2015 assembly election when the Grand Alliance of RJD, JDU and Congress won 178 seats out of 243 with a 42% vote share. The political cycle has changed and the Congress needs to take a leaf out of BJP’s strategy post 1989.

Source: Economic Times June 10, 2019 01:41 UTC