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Updated: Feb 12, 2020 11:44 IST

The Congress is likely to go for a massive overhaul of its Delhi unit after its complete decimation in the assembly elections.

The grand old party not only failed to open its account for the second time in a row but 67 candidates of the Congress-led alliance out of 70 forfeited their deposits as well.

The party had appointed veteran leader Subhash Chopra in October last year, just few months ahead of the elections following the death of three-time Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on July 20.

Along with him, cricketer-turned-politician and former BJP leader Kirti Azad was also named the party’s campaign committee head.

While Azad’s panel ceased to exist with the culmination of the elections, Chopra and party’s Delhi in-charge PC Chacko are also likely to face the axe. The party is set to bring in a fresh face to head the Delhi unit.

Chacko was appointed Delhi in-charge in November 2014 ahead of the 2015 assembly elections. He had replaced general secretary Shakeel Ahmed who had then sought a leave of three months to visit his family in Canada.

In the 2015 polls, the party had registered its worst ever electoral performance and failed to open its account. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 67 of the 70 seats while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged the remaining three.

Chacko shared an uneasy relationship with Dikshit who took over as the Delhi Congress president in January 2019 after Ajay Maken resigned on health grounds. The two were at loggerheads over the issue of having an alliance with AAP for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. While Chacko favoured a tie-up with AAP, Dikshit vehemently opposed it.

Both the Congress and the AAP could not win a single seat as the BJP bagged all seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.

But the central leadership defended Chacko on Tuesday. Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala dismissed suggestions that the party had lost all elections under him. He said the Congress performed well in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and 2017 civic polls.

The party has now vowed to rebuild itself in Delhi. “We will rebuild the party from the scratch, from the drawing board, not impounded upon our ideology and our work, as I have already pointed out and whatever would need to be done and sacrifices that would need to be made, no Congressman or woman will shy away from it,” Surjewala said.