RJD Congress Bihar: Congress is preparing to change its strategy for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections. For years, the party has contested elections in alliance with the RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal), led by Lalu Yadav. After breaking away from the NDA, the two parties had also contested elections with Nitish Kumar in the past. Since the 1990s, when Congress’s presence in Bihar weakened, it has relied on RJD to enter the electoral fray. However, in recent times, Congress has made changes to its strategy, which was visible in the Delhi elections.
In the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections, Congress is not showing interest in mere seat-sharing agreements. While the party will contest the elections as part of the alliance, it is focusing more on winning seats with the highest chances, rather than merely increasing the number of seats. This shift is aimed at maximizing victories.
Before starting discussions on seat-sharing with RJD and other alliance partners, Congress conducted an internal survey. According to the survey, which was done about a month ago, the party aims to focus on seats with the highest chances of winning, rather than aiming for a large number of seats. Congress has strong organizational support and better candidates in nearly 50 seats, where they are likely to win.
A senior leader of Bihar Congress mentioned that during the seat-sharing discussions with alliance partners, the party will stake a claim only on those seats where it has a real chance of victory. Some seat adjustments with the alliance partners may also be required for this. In the 2020 elections, Congress contested on 70 seats, but most of these were just to increase the overall tally. The party managed to win only 19 seats out of these, while many of the seats were from the NDA’s strongholds. Congress faced continuous defeats in these constituencies over the last four elections.
In the 2020 elections, several traditional Congress seats went to the Left, benefiting them and improving their performance. Before this, in the 2015 elections, Congress contested on 41 seats and won 27 of them.
Now, Congress is focusing on a strategy that aims for a better performance, prioritizing the number of wins over the number of seats contested. The party is gearing up for serious negotiations on seat-sharing with its alliance partners.
