Bangalore: The Congress has reasons to exult over its performance in the elections to the zilla and taluk panchayats.

The party has, to some extent, made up for the ground lost in last year's Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. Even though the final picture regarding the elections is yet to emerge, because of a delay in counting the votes, the Congress is set to control a majority of the 27 zilla and 176 taluk panchayats.

The Congress has been helped by the emergence of the Siddaramaiah-led All-India Progressive Janata Dal (AIPJD), which weakened the Janata Dal (Secular) in some districts; the AHINDA (federation of minorities, backward classes and Dalits) movement, which alienated sections of the backward classes from the Janata Dal (S); the tacit alliance with the AIPJD in some districts; and the entry of the Samajwadi Party led by former Chief Minister S. Bangarappa, which cost the Bharatiya Janata Party dearly in at least Uttara Kannada district. The Congress was also helped by its traditional familiarity and affinity with the Karnataka voter and the fact that it is in power.

However, the fact cannot be missed that the Congress has forfeited a large number of seats in most of the zilla and taluk panchayats. There is going to be a decrease in the number of seats it is going to hold in panchayats. The Congress might retain some of the panchayat bodies with a slender majority. In at least a few zilla and taluk panchayats, it might be forced to extend the State-level alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular). Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh had favoured such coalitions in panchayats in case the Congress failed to secure a majority. The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee was quick to overrule him.

The Congress had controlled 25 out of the 27 dissolved zilla panchayats.

However, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President M. Mallikarjun Kharge said the gains registered by the Congress are on expected lines and significant. The party is well on the way to control a majority of the zilla and taluk panchayats. The people in rural areas have reposed faith in the policies and programmes of the party. The Congress has emerged the victor in the "mini general elections", Mr. Kharge said.

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