In the post-independence era, when the first assembly election took place in Bihar, the Congress won 239 seats out of a total of 324 constituencies in the undivided state. In 2010, 10 years after Bihar was bifurcated, it touched its rock bottom when it could scrape through in merely four constituencies. Later, it won one more seat in the 2014 bypoll, thereby taking the party tally to five.
From five seats to winning 27 seats this assembly poll, the Congress has not only seen a 500% increase in its tally, it has also infused a new lease of life into a moribund party, which has been out of power in Bihar for the last 25 years. It was Lalu Prasad, who in March 1990 replaced the Jagannath Mishra-headed Congress’ last government here.
Battered and bruised after the October-November 1989 Bhagalpur riots, in which more than 1,000 people lost their lives, the Congress never rode to power again. In 1990, it won only 71 seats, 125 less compared to its tally of 196 in 1985 assembly election.