New Delhi, February 11: The results of the Delhi assembly elections 2020 brought another disappointment for the Congress, as the party has furthered weakened its electoral foothold in the national capital territory. With the trends so far suggesting another "O" for the grand old party, and the estimated vote share said to be below 5 percent, political pundits are speculating the end of the Congress in Delhi. AAP Set to Retain Power, Congress Congratulates Arvind Kejriwal, BJP Concedes Defeat.

Out of all the poll reverses and setbacks faced by the Congress in the last decade, the party's demise in Delhi has been the most drastic. Far from ruling the NCT with an outright majority between 1998 to 2013, the party now appears to be struggling to get even one legislator elected in the national capital.

As per the official trends released by the Election Commission so far, the Congress candidates are trailing from all constituencies of Delhi with a definite margin. All of them are way behind the first runner-ups, either from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The two candidates - who were expected to end Congress' five-year en-masse absence from the legislative assembly - Haroon Yousuf from Ballimaran and Alka Lamba from Chandni Chowk - have also conceded defeats.

In terms of the overall vote share, the party has secured 4.6 percent of the vote share. The numbers are nearly half of the what the Congress had secured in 2015 - 9.7 percent. The acute shrinkage for the grand old party in Delhi comes months after the tragic demise of its most popular leader in the national capital - three-time chief minister Sheila Dixit.

Although the future of Congress appears to be bleak in Delhi, political analysts argue that the Sonia Gandhi-led party must not be written off yet. Barely nine months ago, in the Lok Sabha elections held in seven NCT constituencies, the party had secured 22.46 percent of the vote share -- way behind the BJP but four percentage points higher than the AAP.

For this dismal rout in the current elections, pollsters claim that the anti-BJP bloc of voters decided to rally en masse behind the AAP to prevent the division of the vote share. Majority of the voters in this category may switch their loyalties to the Congress during the general elections -- when the contest is between the two national parties, pollsters claim.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 11, 2020 01:57 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).