After the Congress faced a major setback in the Bihar Assembly elections, winning only six seats, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav emerged as a significant name to lead the INDIA bloc.
Samajwadi Party MLA Ravidas Mehrotra said Akhilesh Yadav should take charge of the INDIA bloc, stating that Yadav’s party has organisational strength and public appeal. Adding to claims, Mehrotra said that the Samajwadi Party was strong enough to form a government on its own in Uttar Pradesh.
Mehrotra, MLA from Lucknow Central, stated that INDIA would have given a better performance in Bihar if ballot voting had been used instead of Electronic Voting Machines.
Mehrotra quoted last year’s Lok Sabha numbers, citing that the Yadav’s party was in a better position to lead the larger anti-BJP alliance as it won 37 seats.
Last year, a Trinamool Congress MP publicly argued that Mamata Banerjee should represent the alliance, stating that the grand old party has failed to deliver results in multiple state elections.
The RJD-led Mahagathbandhan managed to win only 35 seats. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) bagged 25 seats, while the Congress won six seats, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation two seats, and the CPI(M) and Indian Inclusive Party bagged one seat each.
Stunned by a dismal performance in the Bihar assembly elections, the Congress on Saturday asked the Election Commission’s role in the poll procedure, while its top leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, went into a meeting to discuss the poll performance.