Congress

The Congress party will be contesting Bihar Assembly election as part of the 'Mahagathbandhan' (grand coalition), which is led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Under this coalition, Congress will be fielding candidates on 70 out of 243 seats. Congress has had a downhill journey in Bihar. Congress won the first Bihar Assembly election of 1952 and continued the winning spree up until the 1972 polls. However, the JP movement and the simultaneous imposition of Emergency under Indira Gandhi, changed the party's fortunes in the state. The Congress was first defeated in the 1977 Assembly poll but made a comeback in the 1980s.
However, the widespread JP movement and anger at Emergency gave rise to local student leaders like Lalu Prasad Yadav, Nitish Kumar etc. who floated regional political parties which eventually gained a stronghold over state politics. In the present day, Congress is better suited to collaborate with regional powerhouses, hence the mahaghathbandhan. Giving 70 seats to Congress benefits the coalition as it keeps their vote bank of Yadav, Muslims and other non-OBC votes. Congress will be in direct competition with the BJP in the allocated seats and is likely to face a tough competition to get re-elected on the 27 seats it won in 2015 Assembly elections.