Congress’ Bihar Push Seen as Tactical Political Move

New Delhi : Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar has stirred political conversation, not for its ideological messaging but for what analysts interpret as a calculated attempt to reposition the Congress party within the opposition alliance.

In a state where the party’s electoral footprint has steadily eroded, the timing and tenor of the Yatra suggest a strategic bid to reclaim bargaining power ahead of seat-sharing talks.

The numbers, as laid out by Infoindata in a post on X, underscore the scale of Congress’s decline.

In the 2020 Assembly elections, the party contested 70 seats and won just 19, yielding a strike rate of 27.14 per cent and a vote share of 9.48 per cent.

Five years earlier, in 2015, Congress was part of the Grand Alliance but still managed only a 6.66 per cent vote share.

The 2010 election was even more damning — 243 seats contested, only 4 won, with a strike rate of 1.65 per cent and vote share of 8.37 per cent, the data said.

Across three consecutive elections, the party failed to breach the 10 per cent vote share mark — a threshold often seen as the minimum for political relevance in a competitive state.

The Infoindata post described Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi’s outreach as a “desperate attempt to secure respectable seats in the alliance”, reflecting a broader sentiment among political observers who argue that Congress’ presence in Bihar has become largely symbolic.

Analysts point out that the state’s political terrain is shaped by caste configurations, assertive regional leadership, and deep-rooted grassroots mobilisation—none of which Congress has successfully cultivated in recent years.

While Rahul Gandhi’s Yatra may generate media attention and energise loyalists, it is yet to be seen if it can alter the arithmetic of alliance negotiations.

The INDIA bloc, dominated by regional heavyweights like RJD and JD(U), observers expect the seats allocation will be based on vote share and ground strength rather than narrative.

And that, by projecting itself as a defender of voter rights and democratic values, Congress may be attempting to reframe its role within the alliance — not as a junior partner, but as a party with national resonance.

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