CPI(ML-Liberation) had won 12 seats in 2020, it got only two seats
The seats of the Left parties, the main component of the Grand Alliance, have reduced from 16 in 2020 to only 3 this time. Leaders say that these results do not match the ground reality in view of their strong performance in the 2020 and 2024 elections. Four Left candidates lost by small margins, but almost half of their candidates lost by more than 20,000 votes.
The CPI (ML-Liberation), which had won 12 seats in 2020, got only two. CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya described the results as “unnatural and incomprehensible”. He said that the performance of the Left parties and the Grand Alliance was similar to the 2010 Bihar elections, although the circumstances were quite different. According to him, 2010 were the initial years of Nitish Kumar as Chief Minister and people’s unwavering faith in him was understandable and explainable.
“This time, given our performance in the 2020 assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the results are completely contradictory and do not match what is being seen on the ground,” Bhattacharya told Outlook. We need to conduct a thorough review and investigation.”
The party won two Lok Sabha seats in 2024, its best electoral performance. Within about one and a half years the party was in shock. This time Sandeep Saurabh managed to save his seat by a margin of 6,655 votes and Karakat MLA Arun Singh won by 2,836 votes. Some seats faced defeat by small margins. It lost in Bhojpur by just 95 votes, in Dumraon by 2,105 votes and in Jiradei by 2,139 votes.
There was a huge split of Muslim votes in Balrampur between the Grand Alliance and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), resulting in the defeat of senior Left MLA Mehboob Alam, who is known for his austere lifestyle.
However, in most cases, the difference was quite large. In Darauli, senior CPI (ML) and sitting MLA Satyadev Ram lost by 9,572 votes. Tarari in Bhojpur district has been a stronghold of Liberation for a long time. There senior leftist Madan Singh lost by 11,464 votes. In Arwal in Karakat district, veteran party leader Mahanand Singh lost by 14,209 votes. Ghosi candidate lost by 11239 votes.
In Digha, Rajgir, Kalyanpur and Sikta, the party lost by huge margins of 59,079 votes, 52,383 votes, 38,586 votes, 37,816 votes respectively. Warisnagar, Phulbari, Pipra and Ara candidates were also certain to lose by a margin of more than 20,000 votes.
CPI (ML) candidate Jitendra Paswan in Bhore was arrested in a decade-old case soon after announcing his candidature. The party immediately declared a student leader as its new candidate and hoped that the party would gain voter sympathy as its original candidate had been ‘harassed’. However, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) retained the seat by a margin of over 16,000 votes. The grand alliance with RJD and Congress had given the party an electoral lead in 2020, now it is facing the same fate as its alliance partners.