NEW DELHI: Haryana, Maharashtra, Delhi — and now Bihar.What should have been a comeback moment for the Congress-led INDIA bloc instead turned into a rout.Bihar has delivered the harshest blow yet. With the Nitish Kumar–led NDA storming past the 200-seat mark and the Congress slipping to one of its most disappointing performances in the state, the INDIA bloc’s brief post-Lok Sabha momentum has abruptly evaporated, pulling the coalition back to political reality.
NDA won 202 seats out of the 243-member assembly, reducing the Rashtriya Janata Dal to a historical low and Congress to single digits. This comes down to Congress’ tactical, not strategic, electoral marriages with regional parties, which often lead to chaos and confusion in the run-up to the elections.
What happened in Bihar?
Alliance without alignmentIn the run-up to the Bihar elections, the Mahagathbandhan allies hit their first roadblock over the seat-sharing deal. While the NDA, despite all the infighting, reached a deal, the RJD, Congress, VIP and Left parties failed to decide on seat allotment even till the eve of the first phase of the elections.In at least 11 constituencies, allies within the Mahagathbandhan — the RJD, Congress, CPI and VIP — found themselves pitted against each other, leading to what were described as “friendly fights” but which in reality ended up splitting the opposition vote. These contests, spread across Vaishali, Kahalgaon, Narkatiaganj and several other seats, reveal how coordination failures and local ambitions undermined the alliance’s broader effort to challenge the BJP-led NDA’s dominance in the state. Interestingly, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha – key partner of INDIA bloc from Jharkhand” withdrew from the Bihar contest after a stalemate over its seat-sharing deal with the INDIA bloc. “Unfortunately, JMM won’t be part of the Bihar polls despite my intentions and plans. This is only because of RJD’s ‘political’ immaturity,” JMM leader Sudivya Kumar had said after the impasse.Rahul’s Bihar missLeader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi once again proved to be a flop show in the Bihar assembly election. The Congress leader’s Voter Adhikar Yatra, which he rolled out just days ahead of the election, did not prove to be a trump card.Additionally, his repeated attacks on the Election Commission and charges of “vote theft” proved to be irrelevant in Bihar politics.
Following his yatra, Rahul Gandhi remained largely absent and returned to the campaign trail only on 29 October. Gandhi’s absence has become a significant issue amid a crisis within the party’s ranks, with many leaders alleging discrepancies in the distribution of tickets.Meanwhile, overwhelming women voters’ participation tilted the mandate toward the NDA, boosted by welfare schemes for women. One of the most talked-about schemes before the election was Mukhya Mantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana — Rs 10,000 assistance for women wanting to start small enterprises. Women voters took the lead in what the Election Commission of India described as Bihar’s highest-ever voter turnout, with 71.6 per cent of female electors casting their ballots compared to 62.8 per cent of men. In the first phase of voting, 69.04 per cent of women turned out to vote, well above the 61.56 per cent male turnout.
The trend strengthened in the second phase, when 74.03 per cent of women voters exercised their franchise, again surpassing the 64.1 per cent turnout among men. Overall, Bihar recorded a 66.91 per cent voter turnout — the highest since the state’s first elections in 1951 — with women driving the surge in participation.The Seemanchal splitThe Mahagathbandhan’s dilemma over partnering with Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM in Seemanchal also proved to be costly for the opposition alliance, as the fight between AIMIM and the Mahagathbandhan benefitted the NDA in the region. While AIMIM managed five seats in the region, the Mahagathbandhan was reduced to only nine seats.
AIMIM leader Waris Pathan claimed that “RJD and the Congress are themselves responsible for the division of minority votes.”He further said that the opposition alliance was given an opportunity to come together “by seeking only six seats from the Mahagathbandhan, but they refused”.No cadre for CongressIn the run-up to the elections, cracks within the Congress Bihar unit also resurfaced. Rebel Congress leaders, including several MLAs, staged protests for being denied tickets.These leaders demanded the immediate replacement of the party’s Bihar in-charge Krishna Allavaru with a ‘political’ person.After the Bihar polls, the next challenges for INDIA alliance awaits in the form of West Bengal, Assam and Tamil Nadu assembly election. Now, it will be interesting to see how the opposition bloc. Go to Source
