It has now been a month since the rout of the Opposition in the eastern state of Bihar with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) returning to power with a brute majority, and Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (United) or JD(U), taking the oath as the chief minister for the 10th time. Now after Bihar, the focus has shifted to five states—West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry (basically a union territory). Among these, it is West Bengal, ruled by Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, that is receiving the most limelight in the political chatter.

There is nothing unusual as the election cycle never stops in the country. However, what is worrying is the Opposition’s failure to properly analyse the Bihar results. The main opposition party Congress, under Rahul Gandhi, has been constantly targeting the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the humiliating defeat of the opposition bloc in Bihar. It believes that the ECI’s “partisan behaviour" is responsible for the defeat. This is where the main problem lies.

In Bihar, BJP-led NDA won decisively because of the welfare schemes, the broad social coalition it was able to build, and the failure of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led bloc to counter NDA and provide an effective alternative. In fact, BJP-led NDA was ahead in the state in last year’s Lok Sabha polls too, where Congress-led Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) was able to deny the BJP a majority at the Centre. Clearly, it was something not completely unusual for the BJP-led NDA........

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