RJD workers watch live results of Bihar assembly elections at RJD headquarters in Patna on Friday, November 14, 2025 | Photo credit: RV Moorthy
The poor performance of the Indian National Development Inclusive Bloc (INDIA) in the Bihar Assembly elections has raised serious concerns about the leadership of the alliance.
Delay in campaigning, internal conflict over seat allocation and rigidity over chief ministerial candidate are some of the major issues that have prevented the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) from taking off.
Although its top leaders like Tejashwi Yadav and Rahul Gandhi have tried to present a united front in public, infighting within the alliance has affected its cohesion. The selection of candidates and distribution of seats at the eleventh hour, when the last date of nomination was approaching, led to the dispersal of voters.
RJD’s strictness on Tejashwi Yadav as chief ministerial candidate also cost the alliance dearly. The tug-of-war between the RJD and the Congress over the CM’s face became so intense that All India Congress Committee (AICC) chief observer for the Bihar Assembly election Ashok Gehlot had to fly to Patna to meet Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and his son Tejashwi Yadav.
This particular reason delayed the election campaign. It was only after Mr Yadav was named CM candidate on October 23 that he started his election campaign.
Mr. Yadav had only 17 days to campaign and in that short period he could devote less time to each public meeting he addressed. Initially, he started with 10 to 12 public meetings a day, but as the days progressed, he had to attend nearly 18 public meetings to cover all 243 assembly segments.
As Mr. Yadav was adamant about being the CM candidate, Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahani insisted that he would be the CM candidate, again tarnishing their public image.
Allegations against the Congress regarding “selling” the ticket, as well as the party’s decision to field candidates who had won the previous elections, did not go down well with voters.
Mr Yadav, who headed the INDIA bloc, made several campaign promises, including a government job for one member of each family – which many saw as impractical.
Throughout the RJD and Congress campaign, the attack on Special Intensive Review (SIR) and vote chori (vote theft) was a central issue that did not work in practice. Not only that, a friendly fight within the alliance in 12 parliamentary seats led to a division of votes.
Over the last one decade, RJD was the single largest party to win 75 seats in the last assembly elections. This time RJD fielded 143 candidates which is the maximum among INDIA block but fared miserably.
The worst performer was VIP who could not open an account. Mr. Sahani got 15 seats in the alliance.
Similarly, Congress got 62 seats, out of which it won six seats. The performance of all the three Left parties in Bihar was equally poor, with the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Liberation) winning two seats out of the 20 seats it contested. The CPI(M) won one seat.
Published – 14 Nov 2025 21:16 IST
