Rahul Gandhi Calls Bihar Mandate “Surprising”, Says Election “Not Fair from the Start”

New Delhi, Nov 2025 : Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Friday broke his silence on the Bihar Assembly election results, calling the National Democratic Alliance’s sweeping 200-plus seat victory “truly surprising” and alleging that the contest “was not fair from the start.” His remarks indicate a sharper confrontation with the BJP-led Centre and the Election Commission over the functioning of democratic institutions.

In a statement posted on X, Rahul Gandhi thanked the voters who supported the Mahagathbandhan and vowed that both Congress and the INDIA bloc would undertake a deep review of the defeat.

“I express my heartfelt gratitude to the millions of voters in Bihar who placed their faith in the Mahagathbandhan,” he wrote. “This result in Bihar is truly surprising. We failed to win an election that was not fair from the start. This fight is to protect the Constitution and democracy. The Congress Party and the INDIA Alliance will deeply review this result and intensify their efforts to protect democracy.”

Rahul Gandhi’s comment followed a devastating setback for the Opposition alliance, which was reduced to fewer than 40 seats overall. The Congress, which contested 61 seats, was left with just five or six, its poorest performance in the state in recent years.

His language mirrored senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh’s earlier allegation of “vote theft on a gigantic scale,” though Rahul Gandhi avoided naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, or the Election Commission directly. Party insiders, however, suggested that a more combative stance is in the works.

According to sources, Rahul Gandhi held a virtual meeting with the Bihar in-charges and top state leaders late Friday evening. He reportedly directed them to conduct a “forensic audit” of alleged voter deletions, booth-level discrepancies, and electronic voting machine (EVM) movement logs. Party workers have claimed that over 18 lakh names—primarily from Muslim, Dalit, and Extremely Backward Class (EBC) communities—were removed during the special summary revision. The Election Commission rejected the allegations, stating that 14.7 lakh duplicate entries and 3.2 lakh deceased voters were removed as part of routine updates.

Reactions within the INDIA bloc were mixed. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, whose party dropped from 75 to 31 seats, supported Rahul Gandhi’s assertion of an unfair contest but urged the alliance to also focus on rebuilding their organisational machinery. CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya backed the “unfair election” claim, citing CCTV failures in 127 strong rooms during counting.

The BJP, meanwhile, hit back aggressively. Party spokesperson Sambit Patra criticised Rahul Gandhi’s remarks as “the whining of a prince who lost his toy kingdom,” while Home Minister Amit Shah shared videos of women voters praising Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s welfare policies. “Bihar’s daughters rejected dynasty politics. Rahul ji should introspect instead of insulting their verdict,” Patra said.

As the Congress prepares for upcoming municipal elections in Delhi and Rajasthan, Rahul Gandhi’s pledge to “intensify the fight to protect the Constitution” suggests the party is gearing up for nationwide protests, legal scrutiny of the Election Commission’s revision process, and potentially a new phase of the Bharat Jodo campaign centred on electoral transparency and institutional accountability.