Is the Opposition Facing Division Again in the V-P Poll?

New Delhi, Sep 10 (NationPress) The Vice-Presidential election held on Tuesday has once again highlighted the fundamental contradictions within the opposition alliance known as the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

Pre-election forecasts indicated that the INDIA bloc candidate, retired Justice Sudershan Reddy, should have garnered 315 votes if all members had participated.

However, Reddy received only 300 votes. Notably, all 15 invalid votes came from the opposition, raising questions about how National Democratic Alliance’s C.P. Radhakrishnan managed to secure significantly more votes than anticipated.

This situation reveals that the INDIA bloc experienced issues such as cross-voting and invalid ballots, indicative of a lack of discipline. Furthermore, the leadership was unable to sway parties like Odisha’s Biju Janata Dal and Telangana’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi.

Among other abstainers, these two parties prefer to maintain a neutral stance regarding both political blocs.

This undermines the rationale that an anti-NDA bloc is merely a national-level agreement.

This is not the first occurrence. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) opted to collaborate with Congress for Delhi seats, the Trinamool Congress decided to go solo in West Bengal.

In Kerala, the Left Democratic Front is unlikely to align with the Congress-led United Democratic Front. Meanwhile, in West Bengal, the Left has united with Congress to challenge Mamata Banerjee at the state level and Narendra Modi at the national level.

Every regional leader harbors individual political aspirations, leading to obstacles in yielding ground to any other party. Most regional parties in North India have distanced themselves from Congress, rendering them “unnatural” allies of the Grand Old Party.

The only unifying factor among them is a shared goal to counter the BJP's dominance.

The AAP has officially declared its withdrawal from the INDIA bloc, intending to contest the forthcoming Bihar Assembly elections independently. The current political landscape in Bihar remains delicately poised against the Opposition bloc.

The newly-formed Jan Suraj Party, led by Prashant Kishor, also aims to challenge the state’s coalition government of BJP and Nitish Kumar’s Janata Party (United) independently.

AIMIM leader and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi has recently dismissed the idea of joining the INDIA bloc. His party holds influence in the 24 Assembly seats of the Seemanchal region, which has a significant Muslim population.

However, the local faction of his party seems to prefer aligning with the Opposition.

In the 2020 state elections, AIMIM secured five seats, but four of its MLAs defected to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

This overall scenario leads to a fragmented mandate for those opposing the ruling coalition in Bihar.

Consequently, uniting parties across the political spectrum poses a major challenge for the Opposition. Unlike the NDA, which is firmly backed by the BJP’s clear Hindutva agenda and governance track record, INDIA lacks a cohesive ideology or manifesto beyond mere “anti-incumbency.”

This broad approach results in member parties contesting under diverse banners without a unified policy platform to engage voters.

A significant weakness is the absence of binding, nationwide seat-sharing agreements. As a result, in crucial states, INDIA members either compete against each other or fail to optimize winnable seats.

Meanwhile, Congress, the largest constituent of the bloc, remains organizationally fragile. Years of electoral defeats have diminished confidence, morale, and grassroots infrastructure.

Rahul Gandhi, although widely recognized, has yet to successfully mobilize other INDIA leaders into unified action.

The ongoing reshuffling of state leadership and vague succession planning undermines Congress’s ability to steer alliance strategy and effectively engage voters.

To turn this challenge into a genuine threat, INDIA must solidify member parties through enforceable agreements, articulate a shared policy platform, and elevate a cohesive leadership that resonates on a national level.