Bihar polls: CPI(ML) secy says 'Congress strike rate low; Left should have had more seats'

Winning 12 out of 19 seats, CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, on Thursday, commented that the strike of the grand old party was low, opining that 70 seats allotted to Congress was excessive. Commenting that if the seat distribution was different with CPI being allotted more seats than Congress. The Mahagathbandhan's seat share was - RJD (144 seats), Congress (70 seats + Valmiki Nagar Lok Sabha by-poll), CPM (4 seats), CPI (6 seats), CPI-ML (19 seats). The polls resulted in ushering Nitish Kumar's 6th stint as Chief Minister after NDA managed to eke out a majority winning 125 seats, compared to Mahagathbandhan's 110 seats.

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Active cases fall below 5 lakh; Sachin Pilot tests COVID+ve

CPI(ML): 'Congress strike rate low'

"Cong's strike rate was less, these 70 seats were difficult for Congress. Had the seat distribution less for Congress and more for the Left, maybe it would have been a different situation. At least 50 seats for the Left and 50 seats for the Congress would have been a more reasonable move," said Bhattacharya. Compared to Congress's lowly strike rate of 27.14%, CPI(ML) had an impressive 63% strike rate, which is higher than the single-largest party - RJD (52.03%). Several Congress leaders too had echoed similar sentiments.

Bihar elections 2020: Mahagathbandhan chooses Tejashwi as its leader, seat-sharing out

Who is Dipankar Bhattacharya?

Dipankar Bhattacharya - a statistician from the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) previously served at the Indian People's Front between 1982–1994, before becoming the general secretary All India Central Council of Trade Unions. Joining the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), he took over the party's lead after Vinod Mishra's demise in 1998. Bhattacharya has worked across Bihar through his experiments with caste and class and has maintained that 'if people had worked as per caste, the Left would not have won any seats'. The CPI(ML) is the overground party of the Naxalbari movement, opposite to the banned outfit CPI (Maoist).

Nitish Kumar says 'NDA will decide on CM', despite PM Modi endorsing his 'leadership'

Bihar Election Result 2020

The Bihar assembly elections results were declared around midnight on November 10-November 11, with the ruling coalition - NDA winning 125 in the 243-member assembly, against Mahagathbandhan's 110.  Even as the contest remained neck and neck throughout the day, RJD under the leadership of Tejashwi Yadav, became the single largest party with 75 seats, followed by BJP's 74. While Chirag Paswan's LJP won one seat, it made a major dent in JDU's tally that has come down to 43 from 71 in 2015. The biggest clincher is Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM winning 5 seats and CPI-ML  winning 12 seats. The other two left parties - CPI and CPI-M won two each. The other two alliance partners of NDA - HAM and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) won four seats each.

Bihar: Tejashwi issues ultimatum; asks CM Nitish to step down after finishing 3rd in polls