NEW DELHI: Nothing seems to have worked for the Congress in the 2019 Lok Sabha election as Narendra Modi’s BJP is all set to return to power with a higher number of seats than in 2014. Congress had entered the election fray with its tail up after forming the government in states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, but the party seems to have been up against a much stronger adversary in Modi. So, did something go wrong with the Congress campaign or was Modi just too good for them?Congress vote share is likely to cross the 20% mark this time but in comparison BJP’s vote share has seen a higher spike to a near 40% in 2019. What we see is the utter failure of Congress against BJP on seats where they are in direct contest. This is reflected in BJP’s stranglehold in the Hindi heartland (225) and western India (78) accounting for over 300 out of 543 seats.Rahul Gandhi forged alliances with other regional parties in Bihar, Jharkhand and Karnataka, but none of them seemed to have worked. Going by the trends, the move to forge alliances appears to have backfired against the Congress. Rather, Congress seems to have fared better in states where they could have gone for an alliance but didn’t like in Delhi and Punjab. Would Mahagathbandhan have gained more seats had they accommodated Congress in UP? Probably not, given the significant increase in BJP’s vote share in UP.The only two regions where Congress has done reasonably well are Kerala and Punjab . With Congress president himself and party heavyweights like Digvijaya Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia trailing in Amethi, Bhopal and Guna, Captain Amarinder Singh is the only chief minister standing tall in the party. Perhaps the time has come for Rahul to give more space to regional satraps to rejuvenate the party at the grassroots level.Live: Election results updates