Congress got 19 of 70 contested, leading to Grand Alliance's loss

New Delhi, Nov 11 (IANS): The Congress contested on 70 seats in the Bihar Assembly polls, but could win only 19 seats which led to the failure of the Grand Alliance to reach the magic figure of 122, say party insiders.

The Congress insiders feel that instead of fielding candidates in 70 seats, the party could have contested on a lesser number where it had a strong presence. The local Congress leaders say they have been cautioning the party's central leaders about directly contesting against the BJP.

The party leaders say that an umbrella alliance would have been better than Congress contesting on more seats and not sharing seats with smaller parties. It was the smaller parties like the HAM and the VIP which have propelled the NDA.

The Congress, however, blames the AIMIM for the defeat and cutting into the votes.

Party leader Adhir Chowdhury had said, "It is Owaisi who is helping the BJP in defeating the secular parties."

In Seemanchal, where the Grand Alliance could not repeat its performance, the AIMIM won five seats and senior leaders of the Congress -- Abdul Jalil Mastan and Tausif Alam -- lost to AIMIM candidates.

Congress leader and former Minister Shakiluzzaman Ansari said,"We had told the screening committee chairman Avinash Pandey to give tickets to right candidates, but he did not pay heed."

The Congress leaders did not work on the ground to strengthen the party and due to Covid also the party could not reach people in time, insiders feel.

The Congress could have proven to be a catapult to the Mahagathbandhan to the power, even if it had repeated the last performance of 27 seats. But the moving out of the RLSP, VIP and the HAM from the Grand Alliance, was not anticipated and while the VIP and the HAM have added eight seats to the NDA kitty.

The opposition Mahagathbandhan ended up with 110 seats, with the Rashtriya Janata Dal winning 75 seats, the Congress 19 and the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (Liberation) winning 12. The Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India-Marxist won two seats each.

The remaining seats were divided among Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM which won five, while the Bahujan Samaj Party won one. One Independent was also elected.

Taking Muslims for granted led to Congress' loss - Leaders

It was a strategic failure on the part of the Congress to have remained assured of the support from the Muslim community during the Bihar Assembly elections. As made evident by the results, the Congress' lack of work in the ground made it lose heavily, especially in the Seemanchal region, say party leaders.

The Congress Minority leaders were ignored in campaigning and micro managing the elections in the Muslim dominated areas, a Congress leader said. In the whole state, it was presumed that the Muslims would vote for the Grand Alliance, but they were divided in Seemanchal where the AIMIM won five seats and led to the loss of seats for the alliance.

In Kishanganj, the Congress candidate could manage the win by a close margin of around 1,000 votes as the AIMIM got more than 41,000 votes.

While former Union Minister Shakil Ahmed Khan maintained, "In the last minutes, the administration gave the certificate to the NDA candidates and winners became losers".

He cited the case of two constituencies where the candidates were defeated after being declared winner.

But another leader Shakiluzaman Ansari said he had flagged the issue of the Muslim voters in meetings.

He said that he had categorically conveyed that the Muslims in their dominated areas should not be taken for granted in view of the AIMIM being in the fray.

"I was ignored and only Imran Pratapgarhi was campaigning. But to micro manage the elections, senior leaders of the state had to do a lot in the areas," said Ansari.

Neither the skills of former Union Minister Shakil Ahmed were used nor was Ansari given the importance. It was only Tariq Anwar and Imran Pratapgarhi, who campaigned and the result of all is that the Grand Alliance missed the bus with only 12 seats.

The opposition Mahagathbandhan ended up with 110 seats, with the Rashtriya Janata Dal winning 75 seats, the Congress 19 and the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (Liberation) winning 12. The Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India-Marxist won two seats each.