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New Delhi, November 14 (IANS) Pointing to the poor performance of the Congress in the early trends of Bihar assembly elections, senior party leader and former governor Nikhil Kumar on Friday openly criticized the party’s election preparations, organizational weaknesses and candidate selection strategy.
His comments come at a time when the ruling NDA is moving on from the alliance, in which the Congress is a key component, which is struggling to maintain coordination.
Speaking candidly to IANS about the party’s shortcomings, Nikhil Kumar said, “This shows the weakness of our organisation. In any election, a political party relies on its organizational strength. If the organization is weak and cannot function effectively, the overall results suffer.”
The veteran leader further stressed that inadequate ground work and poor strategic planning has worsened the Congress’s position on the ground. He said, “All our candidates are very capable, but even better candidates could have been selected. The organization should have worked strategically, intelligently and maintained a strong presence in all constituencies.”
They also pointed to internal flaws in coordination and inclusivity and suggested that the leadership failed to bring diverse voices into the decision-making process.
According to him, several “good candidates” were ignored in favor of those he called “incompetent”, a move which, he suggested, weakened the party’s competitiveness in key seats.
Kumar’s comments come at a crucial juncture, as counting of votes is underway for all 243 assembly seats across Bihar.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) began the counting process with postal ballots at 8 am, followed by electronic voting machine (EVM) vote counting at 8.30 am. Multi-layered security arrangements have been deployed at 46 counting centers in 38 districts.
According to ECI trends around noon, the NDA has crossed the majority mark of 122 seats, taking a lead in over 150 seats, with the BJP and JD(U) putting in a particularly strong performance. In contrast, the Congress, part of the opposition grand alliance, was lagging far behind, with its candidates leading in only a few constituencies.
The Congress party’s struggles in Bihar are not new, but Kumar’s unusually frank assessment underlines deep concerns within the party over organizational stagnation, ineffective booth-level mobilization and an inability to understand the changing political mood.
With final results expected on Friday, Kumar’s criticism is likely to intensify internal discussions on restructuring of the party machinery, reassessment of leadership roles and rebuilding grassroots participation ahead of future electoral battles.
–IANS
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