The Congress party may have its eyes strongly set on the Bharat Jodo Yatra, but it kept its fingers crossed as it waited for Thursday's counting of votes for the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. 

The grand old party, which has been fighting to protect its fast-decimating electoral base, would be more than happy if it made victory in Himachal Pradesh and remains the main opposition in Gujarat where the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is seeking to emerge as a challenger to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). 

On the other side, its crisis will deepen further if the Congress fails to wrest power from the BJP in Himachal Pradesh - the hill state has not returned the same party to power after 1985 - and concedes the main opposition's space in Gujarat to AAP. 

The Congress endured yet another setback when results of civic body elections in Delhi came in Wednesday, with the party finishing a distant third, winning only 9 of the 250 wards in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. The AAP unseated BJP in the MCD, winning 134 wards. 

The BJP won in 104 wards. Exit polls on Monday forecast a big majority for the BJP in Gujarat and a dead heat in Himachal Pradesh where most pollsters gave an edge to the ruling party over the Congress. Any worse-than-expected outcome in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh would not only have a bearing on the morale of the Congress and its workers that has been running high on the back of a successful rollout of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, but also impact the party's ability to mobilise support and resources for future electoral battles.

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