Did other parties, candidates play spoiler for Congress?

An HT analysis shows that the Congress lost 17 ACs due to other parties and candidates playing spoiler.

Despite winning almost the same vote share as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the state level, the Congress won just 37 of 90 assembly constituencies (ACs) in Haryana compared to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) tally of 48. One big reason for this is that the contest was more bipolar in the 2024 assembly election than in recent assembly elections, which raised the required vote share for winning an AC. However, and almost paradoxically, that is not the only reason. An HT analysis shows that the Congress lost 17 ACs due to other parties and candidates playing spoiler.

Former Haryana chief minister and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda upon his arrival to address the media regarding the Haryana Assembly election results, in Rohtak on Tuesday. (PTI)

What does losing a seat to a spoiler mean? A party is said to have lost a seat to others playing spoiler if it finishes second and the party finishing third had enough vote share to help them win if they contested together. The Congress finished second in 45 seats; in 17 of these, it lost because of spoilers -- independent candidates finished third in 12 ACs, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) in three ACs, and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) in one each.

Does this mean that the Congress missed a trick by not allying with the parties that played spoiler or not accommodating independent candidates? This is not necessary because the vote share of an alliance is not always the sum total of the vote shares of its constituents. For example, the BJP also lost 12 seats to spoilers: six on account of the INLD and two each on account of the BSP, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and independent candidates. It is unlikely that a BJP alliance with AAP or BSP would have helped the BJP win more seats because both parties are opposed to the BJP.

That said, since the Congress has lost much more seats to independent candidates (who are not always ideologically aligned) than the BJP, it can be argued that the Congress had more opportunity to avoid losses through spoilers.