Congress Begins Bihar Review, Flags 'Gaps' In Preparation And Possible EVM Manipulation
The move comes after senior All India Congress Committee (AICC) functionaries obtained initial feedback from the local leaders
Published : November 23, 2025 at 8:42 PM IST
New Delhi: The Congress functionaries will soon visit various assembly constituencies in Bihar to understand the ground-level factors behind the opposition’s defeat over the coming days.
The move comes after senior All India Congress Committee (AICC) functionaries obtained initial feedback from the local leaders which showed several gaps in the opposition’s preparedness as well as management on the ground but also pointed a finger at manipulation of the EVMs.
A review with the party candidates was scheduled for November 26 but has been postponed.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was able to win a mandate to rule Bihar for five more years after being in power for 20 years. The BJP-led alliance won 202 of 243 seats, while the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc just got 35 seats. The result led to a series of exchanges within the party and among the allies, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Left parties and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP).
“We have spoken to the state leaders and candidates about the factors that impacted the poll outcome. We will be soon visiting the various assembly constituencies to get a more detailed account of what were the factors that contributed to such a result,” the AICC Secretary in charge of Bihar, Sushil Pasi, told ETV Bharat.
“We may not have done certain things right, but this kind of one-sided result was not expected at all. The manipulation of the EVMs and earlier of the voter list through the SIR is obvious. Two former ministers and several BJP lawmakers have got almost a similar number of votes, which is not normal across diverse constituencies,” he said.
According to party insiders, the opposition suffered a setback mainly due to faulty election strategy and lack of coordination among the allies, with the major player RJD diluting the alliance spirit, often due to its aggressiveness.
As the grand old party is estimating the reasons for the poll loss, it is also making a list of things that will have to be done to revive the grand old party in the eastern state. The Congress could win only 6 of the 61 seats it contested in the alliance.
Among these are forming various party panels right from the state to the district and block level, conducting political activities in the villages instead of only in the state capital or district headquarters and providing more financial resources to the candidates.
Further, the categorisation of various seats based on the winnability factor should not be a one-time exercise before the polls but should be done constantly during the entire campaigning period as the ground situation evolves.
Also, the opposition was at a disadvantage as it could only promise social welfare schemes, while the ruling alliance cleverly put money into the hands of the women voters.
“The opposition now needs a new strategy in state elections. It should demand polling through ballot paper,” said Pasi.
According to former legislative party leader Shakeel Ahmed Khan, the Congress should start afresh in the state and go to the people with the shortcomings of the state government.
“There can either be a repair or a replacement strategy. What we need is perhaps a replacement strategy. All is not lost, and the Congress can always start from scratch again. The entry of hardline minority-appealing parties like AIMIM pushed the majority voters towards the BJP. We will have to counter both,” Khan told ETV Bharat.
He noted the odds against the opposition were heavy despite the shortcomings in the INDIA bloc. Khan alleged that the NDA mobilised the women beneficiaries of the Rs 10,000 money transfer scheme at the booth level to get an advantage in polling, something the opposition could never do. He also wondered what happened to all the agitations that were staged by various sections of society against the NDA government over the past years and why the same were not reflected in voting.
Former state unit chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh told ETV Bharat. “Delay in seat-sharing announcement and lack of coordination within the opposition were the two major factors behind the defeat.”
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