The Congress party has suffered a severe electoral blow in the Bihar assembly elections, managing to secure just one seat and leading in only five others out of the 61 constituencies it contested. This poor performance comes as part of the Mahagathbandhan alliance and marks another significant setback for the grand old party.
NDA's Landslide Victory and Congress's Decline
In a stark contrast, the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United), is heading for a massive victory. The coalition is leading on a staggering 208 seats in the 243-member Bihar Legislative Assembly, virtually decimating the opposition.
This result is not merely a drubbing for the Congress but a personal setback for its leader, Rahul Gandhi. He had crisscrossed the state months before the November polls, launching a ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in August. His central charge was that the BJP was involved in 'vote chori' or vote theft. However, this campaign failed to resonate with the electorate.
Internal Strife and Failed Strategy
The Congress's campaign in Bihar was marred by internal discord and strategic missteps. After his initial yatra, Rahul Gandhi remained largely absent from the campaign trail, returning only on October 29. This absence became a major point of contention within the party.
A significant crisis erupted over ticket distribution, leading to open protests. A group of disgruntled Congress leaders, including former MLAs, staged demonstrations. They demanded the immediate removal of the party's Bihar in-charge, Krishna Allavaru, whom they accused of being a 'corporate agent' and a 'sleeper cell of the RSS'.
Congress leader and former Governor Nikhil Kumar summed up the sentiment, calling the performance a 'total failure of the organisation'. He emphasized that a weak organizational structure inevitably leads to poor electoral outcomes.
Broader Political Implications for INDIA Bloc
The Congress's dismal show in Bihar reinforces its growing reputation as a liability within the opposition INDIA bloc. Its track record in alliance politics, such as in Uttar Pradesh with the Samajwadi Party, has been consistently poor.
While the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the senior partner in the Mahagathbandhan, also performed dismally—reduced to around 25 seats from the 75 it won in 2020—the Congress's inability to hold its own ground significantly weakened the alliance's overall challenge to the NDA.
This result continues the party's long decline in a state where it was once the dominant force, ruling continuously from 1947 to 1967 and again in the 1980s, before being dethroned in 1990.
