The Congress proved to be the “weak link” in the Grand Alliance led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal, as it could lead in just 20 seats of the 70 seats it contested. On the other hand, the three Left parties that contested in 29 seats were leading in 17 seats, giving a strong organisational and ideological support for the RJD-led Mahagathbandan. The Congress also failed to perform in the by-polls held in States such as Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat where the party is in a direct fight with the ruling BJP.
The Congress tried to justify the Bihar tally by saying that it was contesting the most difficult of the seats. Party spokespersons said in TV studios that out of the 70 seats, 67 were held either by the JD(U) or by the BJP in the last four Assembly elections. In other States, the party leaders said the State units will come up with an explanation.
In Bihar, questions were posed to the RJD leadership for giving “so many” seats to the Congress. The Grand Old Party had been confident that it could revive some of its old base among the Muslims and Dalits and match the expectations of its alliance partners. However, in some seats, the party even fell to the third position. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi had extensively campaigned in Bihar, raising livelihood issues such as unemployment and economic recession.
The Left parties, however, stood to the expectations of its Alliance leadership. The three parties CPI (ML-Liberation), the CPI and the CPI(M) got 19, six and four seats respectively to contest. The parties chose the areas close to Uttar Pradesh where the Left movement was historically strong. But the electoral performance of the Left has been dwindling since the post Mandal emergence of parties such as RJD and JD(U).
In 2015, the Left parties contested on their own and won just three seats. In 2010, the parties had just one seat in the Assembly. In that case, the 2020 result is a sort of come-back for the Left in Bihar.