When Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi first unveiled his “hydrogen bomb”, accusing the Election Commission and the BJP of orchestrating large-scale vote theft (25 lakh “fake” votes) in Haryana alone, it was pitched as a game-changer as it came right ahead of the voting day in Bihar. He described it not just as election malpractice, but “vote chori” that constituted a moral attack on democracy. To give the campaign further momentum, he launched a half-month “Voter Adhikar Yatra” across Bihar, declaring it a fight to save the Constitution itself. But as vote-counting trends emerged on Friday, the results displayed a stark fact. The “hydrogen bomb” had failed to detonate in Bihar.
The decline of Congress in Bihar
The Congress party is experiencing one of its steepest declines in Bihar in recent years, with trends showing it leading in only six seats. The party won 19 seats in the 2020 assembly elections. Congress’s traditional pockets in Seemanchal, Mithila and parts of Magadh have weakened significantly. Candidates are trailing even in seats the party considered relatively strong in 2020. Congress is leading in just 6 of the 61 seats it contested this year, a conversion rate of barely 10%, down sharply from 2020. In the 2020 elections, Congress secured 27 seats out of 70 with a conversion rate of 38 per cent,
Once a dominant force, Congress has now become a peripheral player in Bihar, often relegated to third or fourth place. The party’s last significant leadership presence in the state was under Jagannath Mishra, who served as chief minister in 1990. Since then, organisational erosion and leadership vacuum have steadily shrunk its influence. Today’s results seem to indicate Congress is going down a death spiral in Bihar.
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Rahul’s hydrogen bomb failed to shake electionsWhile Congress focused on national issues, local concerns appear to have overshadowed its message. Hours after holding the third of his “vote chori” press conferences on November 5, which Rahul had termed “hydrogen bomb”, timed a day before the first phase of polling in Bihar and the day after enumeration started for Phase 2 of SIR, Rahul Gandhi once again appealed to “Gen Z” voters to help “save” India’s democracy through truth and non-violence. “Many of you will be voting for the first time. This is not just your right, but democracy’s greatest responsibility. You’ve seen how in Haryana, a nefarious game of vote theft was played. In Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh — everywhere, these people have tried to suppress the people’s voice.
However, the Election Commission asked Rahul Gandhi why his party had not filed a single appeal after the final electoral roll used for Haryana assembly polls in 2024, was published. The EC official said that while Rahul, on the one hand, opposes SIR – aimed at purifying the electoral roll by removing voters who are dead, enrolled at two or more places, permanently shifted or non-citizens – “he keeps giving presentations to bring out impurities in the past rolls”.
Despite a high-voltage campaign spearheaded by Rahul based on allegations of “vote chori” against the Centre and the Election Commission, criticism of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, and a Voter Adhikar Yatra, the party’s messaging failed to resonate with the voters. Rahul’s refusal to go to court with his allegations raised questions over the authenticity of his claims of “vote chori”. While designed to project Congress as the defender of electoral rights, the “vote chori” issue which was converted into a national-level campaign, appears to have been overshadowed by more immediate, local concerns that continue to drive voter preferences in Bihar.
Rahul’s controversial claims about Indian army too may have backfired. He stirred controversy a day before polls by claiming “10% of the country’s population” controls the Army, comments seen as an allusion to upper castes. “…Only 10% of the country’s population get opportunities in corporate sectors, bureaucracy, and judiciary… even the Army is under their control. The remaining 90% – backward classes, Dalits, STs, and minorities – are nowhere to be seen,” Rahul said. While his comment may have antagonised the upper caste voters, it failed to resonate with lower castes. Earlier, he was rapped by Supreme Court for claiming during his ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ over two years ago that “Chinese troops are thrashing Indian soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh”.
The Yatra that reached nowhere
The much-publicised Vote Adhikar Yatra led by Rahul on August 16, covering 1,300 kilometres across 25 districts of Bihar, to highlight ‘vote chori’, kicked off his campaign in a big way, drawing large crowds of party workers and youth across the district. But it seems to have made little impact. Congress has been trailing on almost all the seats on the Yatra route.
The event was seen as a strong show of organisational strength for the Congress in Bihar. However, as the assembly election campaign gained pace, that initial fervour steadily diminished, exposing organisational weaknesses within the Grand Alliance.
“Vote Chori” claims continue
The opposition kept up its “vote chori” chorus on Friday as the NDA headed for a sweeping return to power with a commanding mandate. The NDA’s clean sweep prompted the INDIA bloc to revive its allegations of “vote chori” and raise the SIR pitch, even though the mandate on the ground suggested these claims had little resonance with voters.
Congress’s Bihar observer Ashok Gehlot, who is also ex-chief minister of Rajasthan, said the mandate was “vote chori” that Rahul meant. Gehlot alleged that the Election Commission was “colluding with the ruling party”. “Bihar results are disappointing, there is no doubt about it. The kind of atmosphere I saw there – women were given Rs 10,000 each; it was being given even when the Election Campaign was ongoing…EC remained a mute spectator. Why did it not stop this? It should have, but it didn’t…This means that what Rahul Gandhi said for Vote Chori, this is what Vote Chori is. If fair elections are not held, if rigging takes place, if booth capturing takes place or there is cheating and money is being distributed – EC didn’t take any action, they were colluding with the ruling party. Money is being misused these days,” Gehlot alleged.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said that the poll was a “direct contest between the Election Commission of India and the people of Bihar”. Targeting the ECI chief Gyanesh Kumar, Khera said Kumar is “gaining an upper hand over the people of Bihar… I can’t underestimate the people of Bihar”.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav termed the BJP a “deceit” and blamed the Special Intensive Revision for trends predicting Mahagathbandhan’s dismal loss in Bihar elections. He termed the SIR as an “electoral conspiracy”, asserting that after Bihar, it won’t be possible in other states, including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh or any other state.
(With inputs from TOI)
