Rahul Gandhi's Bihar Yatra Fails to Convert: Congress Faces Comprehensive Defeat in State Elections

The Bihar election outcomes represent not only a significant defeat for the Congress but also a considerable setback for Rahul Gandhi, who had extensively traveled across the state earlier this year attempting to persuade voters that the BJP was engaging in vote theft. Gandhi had embarked on the Voter Adhikar Yatra in August, encouraged by the previous yatras that the party believed had helped strengthen their voter base in recent elections.

Beginning in Sasaram and concluding in Patna, the yatra traversed 25 districts and 110 assembly constituencies, covering approximately 1,300 km. However, not a single constituency along this route appears to be favoring Gandhi's party. Current trends indicate that Congress is leading in merely five seats—Valmiki Nagar, Chanpatia, Araria, Kishanganj, and Manihari—out of the 61 seats they contested.

The once-effective Gandhi influence seems to have diminished in Bihar's electoral landscape. Previously, Congress believed that Gandhi's yatras had contributed to their impressive performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and 2023 Telangana polls. The party had secured 41 seats along the routes of the two pan-India 'Bharat Jodo' yatras that Gandhi conducted between 2022 and 2024. In Telangana, they even won the election and formed the government.

However, this political momentum appears to have dissipated in Bihar's Gangetic plains. The NDA claimed victory in most constituencies, with both the BJP and JDU winning the majority of seats they contested. Currently, BJP leads in 91 seats and JDU in 80, with both parties having contested 101 seats each. Even their alliance partners performed remarkably well—Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) leads in 22 out of 28 contested seats, Upendra Kushwaha's RLM is ahead in 3 out of 6 seats, and Jitan Ram Manjhi's HAM leads in 5 out of 6 seats.

The Bihar results suggest that Gandhi's allegations of "vote theft" against the BJP and Election Commission failed to resonate with voters. According to Congress, the Bihar yatra aimed to expose what they termed a "BJP ploy to disenfranchise lakhs of voters in Bihar" through the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The party had described the yatra as a moral crusade to protect marginalized voices and had anticipated it would be a "game-changer." Gandhi had framed it as a fight to protect the democratic principle of "one person, one vote," but these claims were refuted by the Election Commission as inaccurate. The voters of Bihar have seemingly rejected these allegations as well.

While Congress has yet to conduct a comprehensive assessment of their defeat in Bihar, several factors appear to have worked against them. A significant issue was the lack of unity among the Mahagathbandhan constituents. The Congress's reluctance to endorse RJD's Tejashwi Yadav as the alliance's chief ministerial candidate was particularly problematic. Additionally, the absence of a unified strategy undermined the Grand Alliance's ability to communicate effectively with voters.

Although Gandhi's yatra initially generated enthusiasm among grassroots workers, this momentum had dissipated by the end of the campaign. The initial excitement faded, enthusiasm waned, and the party's visibility diminished significantly. Internal conflicts and factionalism between alliance partners created confusion and ultimately harmed both Congress and the RJD.