Saffron vs Red in Bihar polls: Does Left hold key to Mahagathbandhan's victory? What battle of 2020 reveals

NEW DELHI: In Bihar’s ever-colorful political arena, where alliances shift as swiftly as monsoon clouds, the 2020 Assembly elections offered a rare sight — a showdown between saffron and red. The state, known for its complex caste equations and coalition compulsions, witnessed an unexpected surge from the Left, shaking up the familiar power equations.

In 2020, the Left parties, particularly the CPI(ML), emerged as a formidable force, almost matching the BJP’s strike rate and outperforming the larger allies within the Mahagathbandhan.



Five years later, as Bihar heads to the polls again, the Left finds itself in a familiar spot, pushing for a fairer share in seat distribution, even as negotiations within the alliance remain uncertain. With no seat-sharing deal announced yet, CPI(ML) released a list of 20 candidates, with its general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya expressing that they "deserved more".

But is their demand for greater seat-share is justified?

Left's striking show in 2020

With a strike rate of 63.2%, CPI (ML) was not far behind the BJP, which had a strike rate of 67.3%. It won 12 of the 19 seats it contested. Moreover, the Communist Party of India (CPI) had a strike rate of 33.33%. CPI and CPM contested six and four seats respectively, and one two each.

The Left parties, undoubtedly gave a tough fight to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The then CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury had expressed that the Left would have performed better had it been given higher number of seats.

The Left parties contested on 29 of 243 seats and won 16, pulling off a combined strike rate of over 50%.


Five years later, one would wonder that the Mahagathbandhan would ensure a "dignified" seat share for the Left parties. With no announcement on the same yet, the situation doesn't look promising this time as well.

Dipankar Bhattacharya said the party has fielded 20 candidates in the "spirit of the coalition", however, they wanted at least 24.

"We have maintained the spirit of coalition. Although we deserved more seats this time, we finally decided to contest only 20 assembly segments. We wanted to contest at least 24 seats this time, but it could not be materialised," he said.

Moreover, similar sentiments were expressed by CPI leader D Raja noting the party's "great history in Bihar".

"We will try to get more seats. If other parties are demanding, our party has a great history in Bihar and it has a widespread presence and organisational strength and our party can decide the political course in different district. So we should get reasonable number of seats," he had said.

Muslim & communist: Bihar's own Zohran Mamdani

Muslim, communist and the poorest of them all, CPI (ML)'s Mahboob Alam was everything a mainstream party avoids its candidate to be. Alam went on to bag Balrampur seat emerging victorious with one of the highest vote margins.

The five-time MLA's success, however, did not translate into a tangible result, as this year, BJP did not include a single Muslim in its 101 candidate list. Moreover, its ally JD(U) too distanced itself from Muslim voters as it named only four minority candidates in its list.

Raising alarm on SIR

CPI(ML)-Liberation has been vocal about the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) exercise, arguing that the deletions from the voter list reveal a disturbing pattern of social exclusion. According to the party’s general secretary, Dipankar Bhattacharya, the cuts disproportionately affect vulnerable sections such as women, the poor, migrant workers, Dalits, and Muslims.

He pointed out that the districts with the highest number of deletions — Gopalganj, Kishanganj, and Purnia — include Muslim-majority and Dalit-dominated areas, suggesting that these were not mere technical errors but a deliberate pattern of marginalization.
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