Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday urged party workers to identify local issues relevant to their states and not depend on “national issues and national leaders” when campaigning for Assembly elections.

At a meeting of the Congress Working Committee convened to deliberate the party’s recent electoral defeats in Maharashtra and Haryana, Kharge said that “tough decisions” would have to be taken in view of the results.

The party’s units in several states were not meeting expectations, Kharge said. “Our biggest need is to strengthen the organisation,” he added.

Kharge said that unemployment, inflation and economic inequality, along with demands for a caste census and social justice, were the “burning issues” in the country. “But this does not mean that we should forget the important local issues in the states where elections are being held,” Kharge said.

“For how long will you fight state elections on the basis of national issues and national leaders?” he asked. “It is important to understand the different issues of the states in detail and prepare a solid campaign strategy around them.”

The meeting was held days after the Assembly election results in Maharashtra on November 23. The Mahayuti alliance – comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiv Sena group led by Eknath Shinde and the Nationalist Congress Party group led by Ajit Pawar – won 230 out of 288 seats in the Assembly.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi – comprising the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the Nationalist Congress Party faction led by Sharad Pawar and the Congress – won just 46 seats.

In the Haryana Assembly elections in October, the BJP secured the majority winning 48 seats. The Congress won 37 seats.

At the meeting on Friday, Kharge also noted the “lack of unity” among Congress members and pointed to statements made by party members against one another, which he said was hurting the group.

“Unless we fight elections unitedly and stop making statements against each other, how will we be able to defeat our opponents politically?” he asked. “Our strength lies in the strength of the party.”

Kharge also said that Electronic Voting Machines had made the electoral process suspicious.

“It is the constitutional responsibility of the Election Commission to ensure free and fair elections in the country,” he said. “Questions are being raised again and again as to what extent this responsibility is being fulfilled.”

The Congress has repeatedly alleged irregularities in the counting of votes and the functioning of Electronic Voting Machines. On Thursday too, the party accused the Election Commission of tampering with voter data in the Maharashtra Assembly elections.

“The kind of results that came in favour of MVA [Maha Vikas Aghadi] in the Lok Sabha just six months ago, the result of the Vidhan Sabha is beyond the understanding of even the political pundits,” Kharge told his party members on Friday.

He added: “The kind of results that have come are such that no arithmetic is able to justify it.”

In the parliamentary elections earlier this year, the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance won 30 out of the state’s 48 seats. The Congress won 13 seats, more than any other party in the state.

The party would have to bring about change from the grassroots to the block and district levels with “new resolve”, Kharge said.

“We will have to bring about the necessary changes with time. We have overcome challenges in the past as well,” he said. “Therefore, we will have to move ahead by overcoming the current challenges.”