The Congress, which vastly improved its performance but stopped short of a century in Lok Sabha results announced on Tuesday, has added one more MP to its tally.

Vishal Patil, a Congress rebel who won as an independent candidate from Maharashtra, extended support to the party on Thursday.

The Congress won 99 seats in the election. "With Vishal Patil's support, the Congress's strength will go up to 100 in Lok Sabha," Congress MLA Vishwajit Kadam, who had fought for him within the party, said.

The grandson of former Maharashtra chief minister Vasantdada Patil, Vishal Patil won the Lok Sabha election from the Sangli seat, defeating the BJP's Sanjaykaka Patil. He had rebelled and contested as an independent after the Sangli parliamentary seat was assigned to the Shiv Sena-UBT in the seat-sharing arrangement among the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners.

In a post on X, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said, "Welcoming the support of elected MP from Sangli, Shri Vishal Patil (@patilvishalvp) to the Congress party".

If the Lok Sabha secretariat gives its approval, Vishal Patil can be called an associate MP of the Congress and the party's strength in Lok Sabha will become 100, said leaders.

101 also possible---Meanwhile, Pappu Yadav, another leader who won as an independent candidate from Bihar's Purnea, is also expected to support the Congress. He had merged his own party with the Congress before the elections. When the Purnea seat went to the RJD's share in the Bihar opposition seat pact, Pappu Yadav contested as an independent candidate.