CPI-ML National Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya. File
| Photo Credit: ANI
CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya asserted on Sunday (November 9, 2025) that the NDA ruling alliance’s seat count will “fall below 100” in the 243-member Assembly, he based this on strong anti-incumbency reflected in the high turnout during the first phase of the Bihar polls.
The Left leader expressed shock over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s use of words like katta (country-made firearm) during the election campaign, calling it the “language of the underworld.”
“The high voter turnout in the first phase highlights significant anti-incumbency among voters. This, in my view, ensures that the NDA will be reduced to below 100 seats, and the INDIA bloc will win 140-150 seats in the Bihar polls,” Mr. Bhattacharya told reporters.
Bihar recorded the highest-ever voter turnout of over 65% during polling across 121 Assembly seats in the first phase on November 6.
“I am shocked to hear the Prime Minister using ‘underworld’ language, including words like katta. The Uttar Pradesh CM has been invoking the bulldozer at election rallies to spread fear,” the Left leader claimed.
Voter fraud
Supporting Congress leaders’ allegations of vote chori, Mr. Bhattacharya said the people of Bihar are “aware of this” and “actively took a stand against these attempts in the first phase of the Assembly elections.”
“Three types of vote chori (vote theft) are going on, deleting of names from electoral rolls; preventing people from casting their ballots, and fake voting,” he alleged.
Mr. Bhattacharya criticised the NDA leaders for dubbing Tejashwi Yadav’s promise of “one government job per household” impossible.
“It may take some time to provide one government job in each household, but it is not appropriate to discard the promise as impossible. Those who don’t want to provide jobs will keep making excuses,” the CPI(ML) Liberation leader said.
Tejashwi forced BJP’s hand
He lauded Mr. Yadav for introducing the unemployment problem as a strong issue in the polls. “The NDA was forced to promise one crore jobs.” He also justified Mr. Yadav’s promise of increasing the quota limit to 65%, saying, “reservation is the right of the people of Bihar and it must be ensured.”
On Congress leaders’ allegations that the ruling NDA in Bihar is attempting to destroy “files on corruption,” Mr. Bhattacharya said, “These are serious accusations and must be looked into. Even former Union Minister R. K. Singh has levelled charges of corruption against the Nitish government.” The CPI (ML) leader claimed that there is a sense of “resentment among many women voters who did not receive the benefits of the ‘Mukhyamantri Mahila Rozgar Yojana’.”
“Even those who got the money as part of the government scheme know it is a poll gimmick,” he claimed.
Mr. Bhattacharya said that women in Bihar are “raising a slogan 10 hazaar me dum nahi, karz maafi se kam nahi (₹10,000 makes little difference, we need nothing less than waiving of our existing loans)”.
On the BJP’s ghuspaithiya claims, he said, “Infiltration has become such a flexible issue that wherever there are elections, infiltrators can be found on duty,” claiming that “the BJP is trying to spread fear among people.”
“Even if there was infiltration, it is the responsibility of the government to stop it,” he added.
Published – November 09, 2025 09:13 pm IST
