NDA’s Bihar Sweep: Opposition To Turn It’s Decimation into Launchpad for “Save Democracy”
A landslide victory of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP and its coalition in the Bihar assembly polls has further intensified an all-out political battle between the ruling dispensation and the opposition in India with the Congress alleging “vote-theft at a gigantic scale” and vowed to respond after an “in-depth review” of the election results.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies, secured a resounding majority in the 243-member Bihar Legislative Assembly, crossing the majority mark comfortably by winning over 202 seats.
The BJP emerged as the largest party with 89 seats, while its key ally, the Janata Dal (United) led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, bagged 85 seats. The other NDA partners — Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and Rashtriya Lok Morcha — contributed 19, five and four seats respectively.In sharp contrast, the opposition Mahagathbandhan suffered a near-total rout, managing only 34 seats.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which had emerged as the single largest party in the 2020 assembly elections, was reduced to just 25 seats. The Congress, its principal ally, performed disastrously, winning a mere six seats. The Left constituents of the grand alliance fared even worse: CPI(ML) Liberation won two seats and CPI(M) just one.
Outside the two main alliances, Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM secured five seats, while the BSP and Indian Inclusive Party picked up one seat each.
Celebrating the victory, the BJP credited the “development-oriented leadership” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the good governance record of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar — despite the latter’s recent health concerns, including reported memory issues.
The opposition, however, refused to accept the verdict gracefully. Instead, it launched a blistering attack on the Election Commission and the Modi government, alleging large-scale manipulation of voter lists and outright purchase of votes — particularly through the transfer of Rs 10,000 each to around 1.4 crore women in the name of seed money for entrepreneurship in the run-up to the polls.
Congress communication in-charge Jairam Ramesh said on X: “Without doubt the election results in Bihar reflect a ‘vote chori’ (vote-theft) on a gigantic scale — masterminded by the PM, the HM and the Election Commission.”
He added that the Congress “renews its resolve to continue with even greater strength its campaign to protect the Constitution and save our democracy.”
Rahul Gandhi termed the outcome “truly surprising” and alleged that the election “was not fair from the very beginning.”
Posting in Hindi on X, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said the fight was for the protection of the Constitution and democracy, and promised an in-depth review followed by stronger efforts to “save democracy.”
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge echoed the sentiment, pledging a thorough study of the results and vowing to leave no stone unturned in raising public awareness. “This fight is long and we will fight it with complete dedication, courage and truth,” he asserted.
CPI(M) general secretary MA Baby accused the NDA of misusing state machinery, resorting to various manipulations and deploying huge amounts of money. He admitted that to defeat the BJP, opposition parties would need far greater unity and promised a detailed examination of all factors behind the debacle.
Interestingly, every single exit poll had predicted a comfortable NDA majority, but none had forecast the near-annihilation of the Mahagathbandhan — a discrepancy the opposition is now citing as further evidence of rigging.
Allegations of systematic vote theft are not new. Ever since the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014, the Congress and other opposition parties have repeatedly questioned the integrity of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and polling process.
The charge gained fresh momentum after Rahul Gandhi’s team, tasked with analysing voter lists across states, claimed to have uncovered large-scale manipulation in addition and deletion of names.
On September 8, Gandhi held a press conference in Delhi and, using a PowerPoint presentation focussed on Karnataka’s Aland constituency, presented what he called “hard proofs” of voter-roll tampering. He accused a “centralised force” of using software to systematically target voters from communities that traditionally support the opposition — Dalits, Adivasis, minorities and OBCs — for deletion from electoral rolls.
“It is the same system that operated in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. We have proof of all of it,” Gandhi alleged, directly attacking Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar for “protecting those who destroyed democracy.”
With the Election Commission now initiating the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in 12 states and Union territories — including Trinamool Congress-ruled West Bengal — the Bihar debacle is likely to further galvanise and unite the opposition in its shrill campaign against what it calls institutionalised “vote theft” by the BJP.
The political battle lines in India have rarely been sharper.
