Fatima, who served for 28 months as president of the state Mahila Congress, declared her resignation in protest at being denied a ticket when all her predecessors had received one. She noted that only 8 per cent of the party’s candidates in the election were women, and argued this reflected a failure to translate the party’s commitment to female empowerment into meaningful action. She stated: “I have been in the post for 28 months, trying to galvanise women … but when it came to tickets, only 8 per cent of the 61 candidates were women.” The dissatisfaction was widely interpreted as a symptom of deeper organisational breakdown following the election debacle.
The mood at the state Congress headquarters, Sadaqat Ashram in Patna, grew volatile as dissident leaders trashed show-cause notices issued to more than 40 senior figures and staged chants of “ticket chor party chhod” outside the premises. Among those agitating was former state spokesperson Anand Madhav, who questioned the authority of the disciplinary committee and the manner in which the notices were served. He claimed the committee of three was irregular and the deadline of three days to respond was rushed compared with the standard two-week period.
The disorder underscores a shift in the party’s internal dynamics. Several leaders identified Rajesh Ranjan, the independent MP from Purnea, as a key player in the candidate-selection process, alleging that his influence through his wife, Rajya Sabha member Ranjeet Ranjan, shaped ticket distribution. Activists accused him of “putting party tickets up for sale”, claiming the process lacked transparency and favoured parachute candidates over grassroots workers.
Party insiders trace the slide to earlier in the campaign when the Congress was excluded from power despite being part of the broader coalition and performed far below expectations. Its limited victory tally—the six seats it won—sparked an internal reckoning on leadership, strategy and representation. The combination of the poor electoral outcome and the high-profile resignation of the women’s wing president has exposed fractures that extend beyond the immediate grievances.
Fatima’s decision to step down reflects a growing challenge for political parties in India around gender representation. Though the Congress has repeatedly voiced support for women’s empowerment, critics point out that the marginal share of female candidates and the absence of women in decision-making roles undermine those claims. Her observation that none of her predecessors faced ticket denial highlights a sense of neglect towards women’s leadership within the state machinery.