Rahul Gandhi strikes again! The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) supporters rejoice as the alliance has secured a landslide victory in the Bihar assembly elections, shattering all dreams and expectations of the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan.
The BJP-led NDA has crossed the magical mark of 200 and is leading on 202 seats out of the total 243, while the Mahagathbandhan is ahead only on 34 seats.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has once again lived up to his reputation as the BJP’s undeclared ‘Star Pracharak’, as the grand alliance is set to lose most of the seats where Gandhi held poll rallies.
In August this year, Rahul Gandhi had taken out the Voter Adhikar Yatra to peddle the malicious ‘Vote Chori’ narrative. While his Yatra, which began from Sasaram and ended in Patna, covered around 110 assembly constituencies, the Mahagathbandhan is trailing in most of these seats.
During his electoral campaign, Rahul Gandhi held rallies in Aurangabad, Banka, Bhagalpur, Darbhanga, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Nalanda, Purnia and Sheikhpura.
The trends reflecting on the Election Commission of India’s website show that most of the candidates of the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan are set to lose against the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United)-led NDA.
In Aurangabad, BJP’s Trivikram Kumar Singh is leading with a margin of over 826 votes and Congress’s Anand Shankar Singh at the second spot, followed by BSP’s Shakti Kumar Mishra. These numbers are as on the 21st, out of 28 rounds of counting.
In Banka, BJP’s Ram Narayan Mandal is leading with a notable margin of 16671 votes, while the Mahagathbandhan member Communist Party of India’s candidate Sanjay Kumar is trailing. In a distant third spot is Jan Suraaj Party’s Kaushal Kumar Singh. These numbers are as of the 16th round out of 24 rounds of counting.
In Bhagalpur, BJP candidate Rohit Pandey is leading with a margin of 10365 votes against Congress’s Ajeet Sharma as on the 26th of the 27 rounds.
In Darbhanga, BJP’s Sanjay Saraogi has won with a margin of 24593 votes. He secured 97453 votes while Umesh Sahani from Vikassheel Insan Party trailed with 72860 votes. These are the numbers as of the counting round 27 out of 27.
In Gaya, BJP candidate Prem Kumar has retained this seat with a margin of 26,423 votes. In total, Kumar received 90,878 votes. He defeated Congress candidate Akhaury Onkar Nath, while JSP’s Dhirendra Agarwal was a distant third in the final round of counting.
In Kishanganj, however, Congress managed to retain the seat as its candidate Mohammad Qamarul Hoda is leading by a margin of 12794, and the BJP candidate Sweety Singh is trailing.
It is pertinent to note that Kishanganj is a Muslim-dominated constituency, and with or without Rahul Gandhi campaigning, the Congress party was expected to retain this seat since the Muslim votebank traditionally rallies behind Congress. OpIndia has earlier reported how Kishanganj has been in the spotlight for a long time .
The BJP is set to win the Muzaffarpur constituency seat where Rahul Gandhi held a rally. BJP’s Ranjan Kumar is leading by a margin of 32604 votes in the final round of counting, while Congress candidate Bijendra Chaudhary is trailing.
In Nalanda too, the voters have rejected Rahul Gandhi’s “vote chori’ bogey as NDA alliance partner JDU’s Shrawon Kumar is leading by a margin of 31261votes while Congress’s Kaushalendra Kumar is trailing.
In Purnia, BJP’s Vijay Kumar Khemka is all set to win as the counting is entering its final phase. Khemka has so far received 127229 votes and is leading against Congress candidate Jitendra Kumar with a margin of 32,893 votes.
Similar is the story in Sheikhpura, as JDU candidate Randhir Kumar Soni has won the seat, securing 82922votes to defeat RJD candidate Vijay Kumar. Soni’s winning margin is 22,547 votes. The final round of counting has concluded in this seat.
Rahul Gandhi: The persistent failure
While the overall results of the Bihar assembly elections demonstrate a resounding endorsement of trust in the NDA, continuity of the leadership of Nitish Kumar and the never-fading Modi magic, for Rahul Gandhi, this is yet another setback.
Gandhi’s vote chori narrative and constant appeal to Gen-Z to become the active players of a revolution meant not for their betterment but for improving his political prospects did not resonate with the Bihar youth. It is apparent that Rahul Gandhi’s rallies may attract a crowd, but that crowd hardly ever translates into votes. This is particularly embarrassing for someone who dreams of giving a direct fight to the political mammoth called Narendra Modi and becoming India’s Prime Minister.
For Congress, what could be more embarrassing than being clubbed with “others” on ECI’s result page? This should be an eye-opener for the grand old party that nothing is ‘grand’ about it anymore. It needs to stop concocting false vote theft lies and rather focus on genuine issue-based politics. The people of Bihar could see through Rahul Gandhi’s hollow rhetoric during his rallies and Voter Adhikar Yatra.
The Mahagathbandhan’s situation is such that its few winning candidates would want to dial up to Rahul Gandhi and thank him for not holding any rally or roadshow in their constituencies.
The MGB’s poor showing in 9 out of 10 seats where Gandhi held rallies shows that even caste dynamics management and charged rhetoric can help only when a party presents a compelling alternative vision, rather than focusing solely on attacking the adversary and casting aspersions on the integrity of the Election Commission.
However, going by the arrogance of the Gandhis and Congress’s deliberate and persistent denial of ground realities, the party will continue with Rahul Gandhi as its face. Congress will continue its ‘Vote Chori’ drama. The party will continue crying ‘Hum hare nahi humein haraya gaya hai’.
The grand old party will continue presenting Rahul Gandhi as a self-declared martyr fighting against a compromised ‘system’ and yet not giving up. So far, the Congress ecosystem calls Rahul Gandhi a ‘JanNayak’ (people’s leader) despite several electoral setbacks. Now with yet another drubbing, the ‘Darbaris’ will declare him ‘BrahmandNayak’ (Leader of the Universe). In fact, as an RJD leader had a day before the counting began, that Bihar would be turned into Nepal or Bangladesh if any ‘malpractice’ is found, which essentially means MGB’s defeat, the anti-BJP bloc might double down on its ‘Vote Chori’ propaganda and actually attempt to give it a Nepal or Bangladesh-like violent touch.
Rahul Gandhi has proven his political incompetence on several occasions, yet he will not be held accountable before his party and workers. This is not because he should not, but rather because nobody in the party wants accountability from him. Congress has developed a unique coping mechanism. When the party wins any state election, as seen in Telangana, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, it gives the credit of victory to Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, rallies, speeches and even his ‘aura’. But when the party loses, the blame goes, no, not to the flaws in their campaign or local issues, but straight to the Election Commission.