Congress's Total Rout in Bihar's Political Arena
The 2025 verdict has amplified Congress's woes. Contesting 60 seats as part of the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan (a step down from 77 in 2020), the party fared very poorly.
Indian National Congress, once the unchallenged titan of Bihar's politics, has been decimated to a mere footnote in the state's electoral narrative. As the dust settles on the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections, the Grand Old Party's tally is nothing but a humiliation. It underscores a quarter-century of continuous decline. BJP-led NDA making a thumping victory, Congress's feeble showing has painted a stark picture of a once mighty force now fallen from the grace.
The story of Congress in Bihar is one of glory faded into obscurity. Before division of Bihar in the year 2000, the party was a colossus, consistently finishing in the top three. Its zenith came in 1985, when it swept 196 seats to claim a resounding majority, paving the way for Chandrashekhar Singh's ascension as Chief Minister. The 1990 polls shaked the scenario but still, Congress clinched 71 seats as the second-largest party, with Jagannath Mishra returning for a final stint as CM. That was the last big performance of Congress in Bihar.
The cracks within deepened with years, and by 1995, the tally had plunged to a dismal 29 seats. That era saw emergence of Mandal era players like the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). The 2000 bifurcation, which shrank Bihar's map and electorate, delivered another blow: Congress limped to fourth place with 23 seats in the pre split polls, as regional outfits like the Janata Dal (United) and RJD seized the narrative on caste and development.
After carving of Jharkhand, Congress went into a freefall, with brief sparks of hope. The double elections of 2005, triggered by a hung verdict, exposed Congress's eroding base, netting a mere 6.1% vote share in the re-elections. A modest revival glinted in 2015, when it bagged 27 seats amid an anti-incumbency wave against Nitish Kumar. But this proved an aberration rather than a trend.
Just look at the state of Congress in Bihar: in 1985 it won 196 seats and had a vote share of 55%, in 1990 it won 71 seats with a vote share of 30%, in 1995 it won 29 setas and got a vote share of 15%, in 2000 the party won 23 seats abd had a vote share of 10%, in 2005 the party won 10 seats and a vote share of 6.1%, 2010 saw 4 seats and 8.4% vote share, 2015 saw 27 seats and 6.8% vote share, and in 2020, Congress won 19 seats and got a vote share of 9.6%.
The 2025 verdict has amplified Congress's woes. Contesting 60 seats as part of the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan (a step down from 77 in 2020), the party fared very poorly.
Analysts point that the party's over-reliance on alliances without grassroots revival, failure to counter the NDA's "sushasan" (good governance) pitch, and Rahul Gandhi's high-decibel but low-impact campaign on unemployment and migration. Gandhi's accusations of "vote chori" fell flat.
As Nitish Kumar eyes a record 10th term as CM, Congress faces an existential reckoning. Senior leader Ashok Gehlot decried money power and EC inaction, but with the NDA's vote share surging past 50%, the real battle for the party lies in rebuilding or risking irrelevance in India's heartland heartbreaker.