Congress Faces Organizational Failure in Bihar Elections as NDA Secures Landslide Victory

As of 6 pm, the Congress secured only one seat and is leading in five out of the 61 seats it contested in Bihar, marking a significant setback for the party that campaigned as part of the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan.

The incumbent NDA is poised to retain power in Bihar with a decisive victory, bolstered by its strategic caste calculations and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's personal popularity. Meanwhile, the Opposition Grand Alliance is struggling with one of its poorest performances to date.

With the Congress trailing significantly, party leaders have been critical in their analysis, with some describing it as a "total failure of the organisation," while others noted they were not the leading partner in the alliance.

"This reflects the weakness of our organisation. In any election, a political party depends on its organisational strength. If the organisation is weak and cannot function effectively, the overall outcome suffers. Our candidates are all very capable, but even better candidates could have been selected," Congress leader and former Governor Nikhil Kumar told news agency ANI.

Anand, a former IPS officer and son of Bihar's former Chief Minister and veteran Congress leader Satyendra Narayan Sinha, stated, "The organisation should have worked strategically, intelligently and maintained a strong presence across all constituencies. It's a total failure of the organisation. And I can say this with conviction that had our organisation been strong, the result of our candidates would have been different."

MP Shashi Tharoor, who recently published an article 'Indian Politics Are a Family Business' arguing that Indian politics remain dominated by family enterprises, emphasized that his party was "not the senior partner" in the Bihar alliance.

"They (NDA) are leading by a rather large margin. But let's wait for the Election Commission to discuss and disclose the results. I am sure that the party (Congress) has a responsibility to study in detail the causes. But remember, we were not the senior partner in the alliance, and that RJD also has to look carefully at its own performance. But I will say that on a matter like this, it's very important that we look at the totality of our performance," Tharoor told ANI.

The Congress leader, who mentioned he was not invited to campaign in Bihar, added that the results will undergo thorough analysis.

"I was not there, and I was not invited to campaign in Bihar. So I can't say much from personal experience. Those who were there will certainly study the outcome," he added.

Congress leader Mumtaz Patel, daughter of party stalwart late Ahmed Patel, called for acceptance of reality.

"No excuses, No blame game No introspection, it's time to look within and accept reality. Till when will countless loyal ground workers who have stayed with the party through thick and thin ...wait to see success ... instead it's failure after failure due to power concentrated in the hands of few who are totally disconnected with ground reality and are responsible for the misery and rout of the grand old party time and again," Patel posted on X.

"And mark my words these same people will be rewarded again and again because they have made themselves indispensable with their control and power," she added.

There were supportive voices as well, with much of the criticism directed toward the Election Commission.

"As I said, the initial trends in itself show that Gyanesh Kumar appears to be succeeding against the people of Bihar. This fight is not between the BJP, Congress, RJD, and JDU. This is a direct fight between Gyanesh Kumar and the people of India," Congress leader Pawan Khera told reporters.

Bhupesh Baghel, former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, also criticized the Chief Election Commissioner.

"One person is responsible for this result- Gyanesh Kumar. I congratulate him. 65 lakh votes were deleted, and 21 lakh voters were added. This magic has been done by Gyanesh Kumar... Gyanesh Kumar has made all the efforts alone. Congratulations to him," Bhupesh Baghel told ANI.

At 67.13 percent, Bihar witnessed record voter turnout, the highest in the state since 1951.

Congress's Ashok Gehlot criticized the Election Commission for being a "mook darshak (mute spectator)" as Rs 10,000 was allegedly being distributed during the polls, suggesting it was a form of "vote chori (vote theft)," an issue Rahul Gandhi has been campaigning against.

"EC mookdarshak bana raha, usne kyun nahi roka. 10,000 bat rahe the chunav chalte hue, rokna chahiye tha, roka hi nahi unhone... Iska matlab jo Rahul Gandhi vote chori ki baat kar rahe the, vote chori kya hota hai, yahi toh hota hai (EC was a mute spectator. Why did it not stop when Rs 10,000 was being distributed while the polls were on? It did not stop it. Rahul Gandhi has been speaking about vote theft. What is vote theft? This is vote theft," said Gehlot, who is a poll observer for the Congress in Bihar.