In his first reaction after the party’s embarrassing defeat, Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi has said the Bihar Assembly election was not fair from the beginning.
Taking to X on Friday after it became clear that the Mahagathbandhan as a whole would not cross 40 seats while the NDA managed to win over 200 in the 243-member Assembly, Gandhi said the result was surprising and the bigger fight is for “the protection of the Constitution and democracy”.
Without explicitly speaking about ‘vote theft’, over which he had also taken out a Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar, Gandhi wrote, “I express my heartfelt gratitude to those millions of voters in Bihar who expressed their trust in the Mahagathbandhan. This result in Bihar is truly surprising. We could not achieve victory in an election that was not fair from the very beginning.”
“This fight is for the protection of the Constitution and democracy. The Congress party and the INDIA alliance will deeply review this result and make their efforts to save democracy even more effective,” he added.
The Congress, which was blamed for underdelivering for the Mahagathbandhan when it won only 19 of the 70 seats it contested in 2020, managed to emerge victorious in a measly six out of 61 this time around. The RJD, the other main party in the alliance, fared even worse, winning only 25 of the 143 seats it was allotted, down from 75 out of 144 last time.
Allegations of misusing “constitutional institutions” were also made by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge around the same time as Gandhi.
“We respect the decision of the people of Bihar and will continue our fight against those forces that are engaged in weakening democracy by misusing constitutional institutions. We will conduct a thorough study of the election results and will present a detailed perspective after understanding the reasons for the outcomes,” Kharge wrote on X.
“I want to tell every Congress worker that there is no need for you to feel discouraged. You are our pride, honor, and glory. Your hard work is our strength. We will leave no stone unturned in raising awareness among the people. We will continue the struggle to save the Constitution and democracy by staying among the people. This fight is long – and we will fight it with complete dedication, courage, and truth,” he added.