After Bihar election results, Akhilesh Yadav to replace Congress as INDIA bloc leader?

The Congress’s decimation in the Bihar Assembly election has intensified a long-brewing leadership debate within the INDIA opposition bloc, with influential voices now openly pitching Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and Kannauj MP Akhilesh Yadav as the alliance’s next face.

What was once murmured in closed-door discussions is now spilling into public view, signalling a possible churn inside the multi-party coalition.

The trigger is unmistakable: the Congress’s steep decline in Bihar. From winning 19 seats in 2020, the party managed to secure only six this time—its worst performance in the state in recent years—despite high-voltage campaigning by Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and the party’s central leadership.

Its ally, the RJD, also suffered a major slide, winning 25 seats—50 fewer than in 2020. Meanwhile, the NDA swept to power with an overwhelming 202 seats in the 243-member Assembly.

Against this backdrop, SP MLA Ravidas Mehrotra has made what many believe is the first open push within the INDIA bloc to shift leadership away from the Congress. Speaking from Lucknow, the MLA said:

“Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav should lead the INDIA Alliance. Samajwadi Party is capable of forming a government on its own in Uttar Pradesh.”

His remarks reflect not just dissatisfaction with the Congress but also renewed confidence inside the SP after it emerged with 37 Lok Sabha seats last year—making it the second-largest Opposition party in Parliament after the Congress. The strength, many within the INDIA bloc say quietly, gives Akhilesh Yadav greater leverage in national opposition politics.

Mehrotra also reignited a contentious debate over India’s electoral process, asserting that the INDIA bloc “would have formed the government in Bihar” if voting were held via the ballot paper instead of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Akhilesh Yadav has been one of the most vocal critics of EVMs, repeatedly demanding a return to ballot voting—a stance that resonates with some regional allies but remains a polarising issue.

This is not the first time Congress’s allies have expressed frustration over its leadership.

Last year, Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee publicly said Mamata Banerjee should lead the INDIA bloc, declaring, “The Congress has failed; that is established.” 

Even RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadav, a key architect of Opposition unity, had endorsed the Bengal Chief Minister as the Opposition’s face, saying the Congress’s hesitation “will not make any difference.”

With multiple regional satraps now signalling that the Congress can no longer automatically claim the leadership mantle, the question is whether the Opposition will finally formalise a leader—and whether Akhilesh Yadav can emerge as a consensus choice.

Sources inside the INDIA bloc say informal discussions about “alternative leadership models” have begun, though no formal proposal has been made.

While the Congress is unlikely to cede the leadership role willingly, its shrinking electoral footprint has undeniably weakened its negotiating power.

For now, Akhilesh Yadav has not commented on the fresh pitch, but as regional parties grow impatient and demand a more assertive reconfiguration of the Opposition, all eyes are on whether the Samajwadi Party chief will step into the vacuum—and whether the INDIA bloc is ready to move beyond the Congress’s traditional leadership claim.