Patna, Aug 13 (PTI) RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday charged the Election Commission with trying to “fix” upcoming Bihar assembly polls in favour of the ruling BJP at the Centre which, he claimed, found the CBI, ED and Income Tax department “ineffective” against the saffron party’s political opponents.
Yadav went hammer and tongs at the EC at a press conference here, alleging that the poll panel is providing more than one voter ID card to many BJP voters.
The leader of the opposition said the option of boycotting the assembly elections, due later this year, is open in view of the poll panel being allegedly “hell bent upon treachery”.
“The EC is unabashedly trying to fix the assembly polls in favour of the BJP. The constitutional body seems to have replaced agencies like CBI, ED and Income Tax department, which have proven to be ineffective in the game of cornering those opposed to the party that rules the Centre,” Yadav alleged.
INDIA bloc leaders have been alleging that the BJP-led central government uses agencies such as CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to intimidate opposition functionaries.
He claimed that as part of the game, the EC is providing more than one voter ID card to many BJP voters.
“Last year, I had exposed the case of Deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha. Today, I wish to bring to light the instance of Muzaffarpur Mayor Nirmala Devi, who may well be the BJP candidate in the upcoming polls. Both she and her husband’s younger brother, in addition to another relative, have two voter ID cards each,” Yadav said.
They must have also filled up as many enumeration forms, and officials involved in the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls chose to look the other way, he alleged.
Shortly afterwards, the district administration of Muzaffarpur served a notice to Nirmala Devi and her two relatives for allegedly possessing two voter ID cards, and asked them to reply to it by August 16.
Sinha, who claims to have applied last year to delete his name from the voters’ list in one of the two places, had been served with a notice last week.
“Tejashwi Yadav should first come clean on the two EPIC cards that he possesses. He is levelling baseless charges against me. I am mooting legal action,” the BJP leader said.
At the press conference, Yadav expressed bewilderment over the EC never talking to the press “despite so much controversy”.
“Democracy seems to be seriously imperilled in this country. The Prime Minister never talks to the press, nor does the chief minister of Bihar. Now, the Election Commission seems to be following their example,” he said.
The EC only comes up with “inane” press statements and “falsely” claims that no political party has filed any objection, even though the RJD’s booth-level agents have been doing so in every assembly segment, Yadav asserted.
“Yesterday, the EC’s counsel was screaming before the Supreme Court – you should cooperate with us! You should cooperate with us! This begs the question, are you even talking to us?” said the RJD leader, whose party colleague Manoj Kumar Jha happens to be one of the petitioners who have challenged the SIR in the state.
The former Deputy CM said, “The Election Commission stands exposed before the top court where several persons turned up, after having been declared as dead in the SIR, leading to deletion of their names in the draft electoral rolls”.
The RJD leader, who is the INDIA bloc’s de facto chief ministerial candidate, alleged that this is not the first time that votes were stolen by the EC.
“The game was played in the 2020 assembly polls as well. Our vote tally for all 243 assembly segments was just about 12,000 less than that of the NDA, and this left us short of a majority by a dozen seats,” he said.
Replying to a query, the RJD leader said he would be joining Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for the ‘Matdata Adhikar (voters’ right) yatra’ beginning in Rohtas district on August 17.
“As stated earlier, we shall also be keeping the option open to boycott the polls if the EC remains hell-bent upon treachery,” Yadav said.
Yadav also took exception to Bhikhubhai Dalsania, the BJP’s state general secretary (organisation), getting registered as a voter in Bihar “despite hailing from Gujarat”.
The RJD leader was lambasted by Nityanand Rai, a former state BJP president who is now the Union Minister of State for Home.
“The stupidity of Tejashwi Yadav makes me laugh. He seems to be rattled by the fact that the Supreme Court has upheld the validity of SIR, throwing his objections out of the window,” Rai said.
As far as Bhikhubhai Dalsania is concerned, he is an RSS pracharak who has devoted his life to serving the nation, he said.
“A dynast like Tejashwi Yadav can never appreciate the likes of Bhikhubhai, who did not care to set up their own family. The RJD and its allies are worried that fake electors, who were patronised by them as part of vote bank politics, are all set for ouster,” claimed Rai. PTI PKD NAC NN
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