After suffering a significant defeat in the Jammu region during the recent Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, the Congress party has moved swiftly to investigate the reasons behind its loss. The party has constituted a fact-finding committee, led by senior vice president and former MLC Ravinder Sharma, tasked with analyzing the factors that contributed to the defeat.
The committee, comprising senior leaders including former MLCs Jahangir Mir, Naresh Gupta, Ved Mahajan, Dina Nath Bhagat, former MLA Thakur Balwan Singh, and Shah Mohd Choudhry, has been directed to gather insights from party workers and other key sources. Their findings are expected to help chart a new course for the party, which continues to grapple with the fallout from the election results.
Speaking exclusively to The Daily Guardian, Ravinder Sharma acknowledged the weight of the party’s defeat, stating, “The Congress High Command has formed a fact-finding committee to understand why we lost, despite anti-incumbency sentiment against the BJP in Jammu. We will take inputs from ground-level workers and submit a detailed report within 30 days.”
In the recent assembly elections, Congress contested 29 seats in Jammu, including five on a friendly basis, but managed to secure only one seat—Rajouri—where Iftqar Ahmed narrowly defeated BJP General Secretary Vibodh Gupta. In Kashmir, Congress fared slightly better, winning five out of the eight seats it contested in alliance.
With the report expected soon, all eyes are now on the party leadership as they seek to regroup and reposition themselves in the region, where the BJP’s dominance remains unshaken.
