Bihar Polls: 'An Abnormal, Unnatural, Result'

'This calls for a very serious investigation, investigation and introspection both.'
'Wherever we went wrong needs proper introspection; but the results also need investigation.'

IMAGE: Bharatiya Janata Party supporters celebrate the National Democratic Alliance's leads in the Bihar assembly election at the BJP office in Patna, November 14, 2025. Photograph: ANI Photo

The CPI(ML) Liberation is one of the key constituents of the Mahagatbandhan in Bihar. Its members were most visible on the ground helping voters fight deletion of their names in the SIR.

Despite winning 12 of the 19 seats it had contested in the 2020 assembly elections, it agreed to contesting just 20 seats this time. However, like other parties of the Mahagatbandhan, it saw its winning tally decline drastically -- it was leading in only two seats at the time of posting this interview.

Busy with the results, CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya spoke briefly to Jyoti Punwani about the shock results.

Your immediate comments on the Bihar result.

This is absolutely an abnormal, unnatural, result. This doesn't correspond to the political ground reality we saw. Neither does it correspond to the result we got in the Lok Sabha a year ago, nationally, or in Bihar; and it certainly doesn't correspond to the results 5 years ago in the Bihar assembly.

This calls for a very serious investigation, investigation and introspection both. Wherever we went wrong needs proper introspection; but the results also need investigation.

This result in Bihar is not just a crisis of the Opposition, but of parliamentary democracy.

What is the political ground reality you saw?

The mood we saw was certainly not like this, of BJP winning more than 90 seats. We'd have seen signs of that. There was so much anger; everyday there were demonstrations. There were so many demonstrations outside the BJP office in Patna that they had to have a permanent police picket there.

IMAGE: Janata Dal-United supporters burst crackers to celebrate the NDA's leads in the Bihar assembly elections. Photograph: ANI Photo

Did the SIR impact the elections?

This was an election without precedents.

First, the SIR, there no precedence for that.

The SIR produced mass anxiety, a sense of fear of losing the right to vote. One doesn't know if that kind of fear psychosis gives rise to certain voting behaviour. We have no prior experience of this.

It's not only that 65 lakh (6.5 million) names were struck off. It's also that 3 lakh (300,000) were added if you see the final number of people who voted, a figure posted by the ECI. Even after the final deletions, there were 3 lakh additions. These numbers could explain the difference between winning and losing in many constituencies.

This exclusion and addition together created a net SIR impact which would be the difference between victory and loss in constituencies which saw close contests.

IMAGE: BJP supporters celebrate the NDA's leads in the Bihar assembly elections. Photograph: Sonu Kishan/Reuters

What about the Rs 10,000 cash transfer to women? Did it play a major role in the NDA's victory?

This kind of money transfer that took place, not just to women: Rs 30,000 crores (Rs 300 billion) were distributed among 3 crore (30 million) beneficiaries -- there was no precedence for that.

All sections of women were fighting for their rights: Aanganwadi workers, even Jeevika Didis. The Jeevika Didis had been on strike for months a year ago because the government stopped the assistance they were getting.

Now, before the elections, they suddenly changed the policy. It's like when they suddenly repealed the farm laws.

What does the immediate scenario look like to you?

The economic crisis in Bihar will only get worse. This is not a natural outcome. When political normalcy is restored, I can see a lot of agitations taking place.