Will Congress finally turn a corner? Five things the Opposition is looking at

Not only will the results of the mammoth, seven-phase 2024 Lok Sabha polls determine the direction the Indian republic will take in the next five years (or more), they could also potentially decide the contours of electoral politics in the world’s largest democracy, and the future of many political parties in the fray.

As the largest opposition party with a pan-India presence, the Congress has the most to win (or lose). It has already bowed to the relentless pressure brought to bear by the BJP by electing a non-Gandhi to head the party. It has also shown signs of shedding its sloth with Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatras, the electoral impact of which will be revealed tomorrow. For some other regional parties, it’s a battle for survival.

The Congress was decimated in the Hindi heartland both in 2014 and 2019, resulting in the party plunging to its all-time low tally of 44 in 2014 and 52 in the last Lok Sabha elections. In 2019, the Congress could win only one seat each in Uttar Pradesh (Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli), Bihar (Kishanganj) and Madhya Pradesh (Chhindwara), which together account for 149 seats. It could not open its account in Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. It won two seats in Chhattisgarh and one in Jharkhand. So the party won just 6 of the 225 Lok Sabha seats spread across 10 states.

The big question is whether the grand old party would be able to make a comeback in these Hindi-speaking states. Apart from doing reasonably well in south India – on its own in Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala, in alliance with the DMK in Tamil Nadu – the party must make gains in the North to stop the BJP juggernaut.

The Congress and the BJP squared off against each other on 193 seats in 2019. In other