New Delhi, Nov 14 (IANS) The Congress has faced a major defeat in the Bihar Assembly elections, managing to lead in only four seats. A key highlight of the RJD–INC campaign was party MP Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Vote Chori’ pitch. His extensive travel across the state was intended to influence 116 Assembly seats.

However, on the results day, the Congress was found leading in only four out of the 116 targeted seats with a strike rate of less than 2 per cent. Rahul Gandhi’s Bihar campaign was fixated on ‘Vote Chori.’ His yatra across Bihar was positioned to influence half of the seats.

The aggressive campaign of the INDIA Bloc, known as the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, centered around Rahul Gandhi’s ‘vote chori’ allegations. Yet, the pitch appears to have fallen flat with voters, as trends indicated a record National Democratic Alliance (NDA) victory in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections.

For the Congress, the trends are particularly sobering. The party not only underperformed in the seats it contested but also failed to contribute meaningfully to the alliance tally, securing leads in only four of the 61 seats it fought.

Despite repeatedly raising allegations such as ‘voter chori’ against the Centre and the Election Commission, and campaigning around the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive and the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’, the Congress struggled to gain traction on the ground.

In the last press conference on ‘Vote Chori’ on November 6, Rahul Gandhi claimed to show evidence of a Brazilian model appearing on the Haryana voter list 22 times under different names, including Seema and Sweety.

Rahul Gandhi’s ‘vote chori’ pitch, along with the Congress’ high-energy social media campaign expected to energise cadres and consolidate anti-incumbency, did not create the momentum the party had hoped for.

Promising a ‘hydrogen bomb’ of evidence but never fully delivering it, Rahul Gandhi held three press conferences where he presented alleged proofs of how the ECI was enabling vote theft, mass deletion of votes, and data manipulation.

On November 6, Rahul Gandhi again repeated his “vote chori” allegation while appealing to what he called “Gen Z brothers and sisters” to decide Bihar’s future. But this strategy also failed to resonate with voters.

In the 2020 elections, Congress secured 27 seats out of 70, with a conversion rate of 38 per cent. This time, however, its performance has dropped even further.

Congress once a dominant force in Bihar’s political landscape, has gradually lost its hold over the state. In 2025, it contested as a junior partner in the alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). The 2025 Bihar election results mark one of the party’s weakest showings.

Congress was once among the top three political parties in Bihar, especially before the state’s bifurcation in 2000. In the 1985 elections, Congress won a clear majority with 196 seats, leading to Chandrashekhar Singh becoming Chief Minister.

In the 1990 elections, Congress emerged as the second-largest party with 71 seats, considered its last strong performance. The party’s final phase of prominent leadership came under Jagannath Mishra, who served as Chief Minister in 1990.

However, the party’s influence declined rapidly thereafter. In the 1995 elections, its tally fell sharply to 29 seats, marking the beginning of a long-term slide.

In 2000, Bihar was bifurcated to create the new state of Jharkhand. This dramatically reshaped Bihar’s political landscape, enabling the rise of regional parties such as the Janata Dal (United) and the RJD. In the 2000 Assembly elections, held before bifurcation, Congress finished fourth with 23 seats.

In 2005, Bihar had witnessed two Assembly elections due to a hung verdict in February. Fresh elections were held in October–November, where Congress secured only a 6.1 per cent vote share, signalling its shrinking base.

Congress saw brief improvements in later years, securing 27 seats in 2015 and maintaining a similar presence in subsequent elections but the 2025 results reflect one of the party’s steepest declines in Bihar.

–IANS

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