'Certain mistakes had cascading effect': INDIA bloc leader on what went wrong in Bihar
The INDIA bloc, comprising Congress, RJD, VIP, and Left parties, won 9 of 40 seats, while 30 went to the NDA. One seat was won by Congress leader Pappu Yadav, who contested as an Independent candidate.
- Jun 23, 2024,
- Updated Jun 23, 2024 12:17 PM IST
The INDIA bloc's performance in Bihar in the Lok Sabha elections was affected as it made "certain mistakes", including in ticket distribution, CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said on Saturday. He also did not rule out the "Nitish Kumar factor" as also being a reason for the bloc's less-than-expected seats in the polls.
The INDIA bloc, comprising Congress, RJD, VIP, and Left parties, won 9 of 40 seats, while 30 went to the NDA. One seat was won by Congress leader Pappu Yadav, who contested as an Independent candidate. Bihar Chief Minister Kumar, on whose initiative the INDIA bloc was formed, left the alliance ahead of the general elections and joined the NDA. In an interview with PTI, Bhattacharya hoped that the RJD, the Congress, and the Left parties, including his CPI(ML), would do better in the assembly polls in the state next year.
In Purnia, Pappu Yadav contested and won as an Independent candidate as the RJD refused to give the seat to the Congress. The CPI(ML) had asked for the Siwan seat but the RJD fought from it and finished third with the JD(U) winning it, said Bhattacharya, whose party won two seats -- Arrah and Karakat.
"Certain mistakes probably had a cascading effect. It affected a number of seats. To give you just one example in Purnia, Pappu Yadav has managed to win the seat. But it's unthinkable that an official candidate of the RJD holds less than 30,000 votes in this kind of a polarised election. The entire party throws the full weight behind that candidate," he said.
The RJD refused to give the Purnia seat to the Congress and fielded Bima Bharti, who could garner only 27,000 votes against Pappu Yadav. "Probably that has affected a whole number of seats, maybe Araria, Supaul and Madhepura," Bhattacharya said.
Likewise, the CPI(ML) had a very strong claim on Siwan and "I got the feedback from every source that with an ML candidate in the fray, we could have won Siwan", he said. "That could have probably ensured a number of seats in the southern commissionary -- Siwan, Chhapra, and Maharajganj, may be even Gopalganj. So, these are some mistakes, probably avoidable mistakes, which cost us a few seats (in Bihar)," Bhattacharya said.
"But more than that, I think we have to find out why we again couldn't do well in north Bihar. If you look at the assembly election results, our best performance was in south Bihar. Once again (in the Lok Sabha polls), our best performance has been in south Bihar," he said.
The Left leader further said that while it was expected that the JD(U) or the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) may suffer losses and the BJP will remain unscathed, the results were different. "It is the BJP that has suffered the biggest loss in Bihar," Bhattacharya said.
In the 2024 polls, the BJP fought on 17 seats and won 12, down from 17 in 2019, while the JD(U) contested on 16 seats this time and won 12, down from 16 in 2019. "So, there are things where almost every pollster, including those who got UP right, didn't get Bihar right. Probably, it is the Nitish Kumar factor," he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
The INDIA bloc's performance in Bihar in the Lok Sabha elections was affected as it made "certain mistakes", including in ticket distribution, CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said on Saturday. He also did not rule out the "Nitish Kumar factor" as also being a reason for the bloc's less-than-expected seats in the polls.
The INDIA bloc, comprising Congress, RJD, VIP, and Left parties, won 9 of 40 seats, while 30 went to the NDA. One seat was won by Congress leader Pappu Yadav, who contested as an Independent candidate. Bihar Chief Minister Kumar, on whose initiative the INDIA bloc was formed, left the alliance ahead of the general elections and joined the NDA. In an interview with PTI, Bhattacharya hoped that the RJD, the Congress, and the Left parties, including his CPI(ML), would do better in the assembly polls in the state next year.
In Purnia, Pappu Yadav contested and won as an Independent candidate as the RJD refused to give the seat to the Congress. The CPI(ML) had asked for the Siwan seat but the RJD fought from it and finished third with the JD(U) winning it, said Bhattacharya, whose party won two seats -- Arrah and Karakat.
"Certain mistakes probably had a cascading effect. It affected a number of seats. To give you just one example in Purnia, Pappu Yadav has managed to win the seat. But it's unthinkable that an official candidate of the RJD holds less than 30,000 votes in this kind of a polarised election. The entire party throws the full weight behind that candidate," he said.
The RJD refused to give the Purnia seat to the Congress and fielded Bima Bharti, who could garner only 27,000 votes against Pappu Yadav. "Probably that has affected a whole number of seats, maybe Araria, Supaul and Madhepura," Bhattacharya said.
Likewise, the CPI(ML) had a very strong claim on Siwan and "I got the feedback from every source that with an ML candidate in the fray, we could have won Siwan", he said. "That could have probably ensured a number of seats in the southern commissionary -- Siwan, Chhapra, and Maharajganj, may be even Gopalganj. So, these are some mistakes, probably avoidable mistakes, which cost us a few seats (in Bihar)," Bhattacharya said.
"But more than that, I think we have to find out why we again couldn't do well in north Bihar. If you look at the assembly election results, our best performance was in south Bihar. Once again (in the Lok Sabha polls), our best performance has been in south Bihar," he said.
The Left leader further said that while it was expected that the JD(U) or the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) may suffer losses and the BJP will remain unscathed, the results were different. "It is the BJP that has suffered the biggest loss in Bihar," Bhattacharya said.
In the 2024 polls, the BJP fought on 17 seats and won 12, down from 17 in 2019, while the JD(U) contested on 16 seats this time and won 12, down from 16 in 2019. "So, there are things where almost every pollster, including those who got UP right, didn't get Bihar right. Probably, it is the Nitish Kumar factor," he said.
(With inputs from PTI)