The Congress party has suffered a major setback in the recent Legislative Council (MLC) elections, failing to win a single seat despite contesting 12 constituencies across four states. Elections were held for a total of 28 Legislative Council seats, but the grand old party ended up empty-handed. The result is particularly significant in Karnataka, where Congress is in power but failed to secure any of the four seats it contested. The party had won four of the seats it contested in the previous election cycle, according to the figures provided in the report. The results come amid the Congress-led opposition’s criticism of the ruling NDA over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, raising questions about the party’s electoral performance in these state-level contests.

Karnataka Setback Raises Questions for Congress Leadership
Karnataka delivered one of the biggest blows to Congress, which contested all four seats but failed to win any. The NDA secured victories across the four constituencies, with the Janata Dal (Secular) winning a seat previously held by Congress. The outcome marks a setback for the state party leadership, including Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar and state Congress chief B. K. Hariprasad. Despite being in government, Congress could not convert its political position into victories in the Legislative Council elections. The result is likely to draw attention to the party’s candidate selection, electoral strategy and coordination within the state organisation.

Bihar and Maharashtra Deliver More Disappointments
Congress also failed to win any seats in Bihar, where it fielded candidates in five of the eight constituencies amid tensions with its INDIA bloc ally, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). The party had previously won one of the seats it contested. In the Darbhanga teachers’ constituency, Prashant Kishor’s party secured a victory, replacing the seat previously held by former Bihar Congress president Madan Mohan Jha. In Maharashtra, Congress contested three of the five seats but failed to win any, including two constituencies it had previously held. Meanwhile, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) won both seats allocated to it. The contrasting performances highlighted differences among opposition parties in the same election cycle.

Uttar Pradesh Contest Sees Different Political Equation
Congress did not field candidates in the MLC elections in Uttar Pradesh, where the principal contest was between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP), according to the report. The development comes as Congress seeks a stronger position in discussions over seat-sharing with the Samajwadi Party ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. The party has previously argued for a more equal arrangement within the opposition alliance. However, its performance in the four-state Legislative Council elections has added another challenge to its efforts to strengthen its political standing. While the results relate to specific constituencies and cannot alone determine future Assembly election outcomes, the failure to win any contested seat represents a setback for Congress across the states involved