RJD may skip elections, citing unfair voter roll revision; allies back the move
Patna, New Delhi: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Thursday said that the option for his party and its allies was to boycott the state Assembly polls later this year due to the controversial special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
“The option is open for boycott of elections. We will take a decision after discussing the matter with other parties. What is the point in contesting elections if we are convinced that these are not going to be free and fair,” the former deputy CM told mediapersons outside the Assembly.
The Congress, an ally of the RJD, said in Delhi that the “Tughlaqi process” of the SIR in Bihar would be opposed at all forums and “all options are open” for the I.N.D.I.A bloc.
The EC has claimed to have covered, under SIR, 99 per cent of the state's 7.9 crore voters. A day before the July 25 deadline, on Thursday, it said the number of deceased electors was 21.6 lakh, in addition to another 31.5 lakh who have permanently migrated.
In a press note, the Election Commission also said booth level officers had found seven lakh electors registered at more than one place; one lakh voters were untraceable and forms of fewer than seven lakh electors had still not been received. This added up to about 67.4 lakh voters.
Yadav contended that about four crore people from the state lived in other states to pursue higher education or seek a career and many of them, who might not have been registered at their current places of residence, would like to vote in their home state.
“We suspect that many such people may end up having their names struck off the voters' list just because they were not found to be at their registered addresses in Bihar,” Yadav said.
He said that the real game will begin from August 1 when the EC would invite claims and objections.
The RJD leader also cited media reports claiming enumeration forms are being filled up and signed by booth-level officers who are in a hurry to meet targets set by the EC, and at many places, such forms were found dumped on the streets.
“Despite so many anomalies, the ruling NDA is silent. Even though their leaders are also elected by voters registered in the same electoral roll. The inference is clear. The EC is trying to help the ruling coalition through SIR,” alleged Yadav.
Earlier, Yadav had told the Assembly that he was not opposed to SIR per se, but the manner in which the Election Commission was carrying out the exercise gave rise to many misgivings.
However, leaders of the NDA mocked the opposition parties.
Union ministers Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan, a former JD(U) president, and Nityanand Raji, an ex-state unit chief of BJP, alleged in Delhi that Yadav's statement was proof that the opposition had conceded defeat.
Tejashwi Yadav, who has been turning up at the Assembly dressed in black as a mark of protest against the SIR. claimed that Union home minister Amit Shah's statement that Nitish Kumar will lead the coalition in elections, but time will tell who would be the next chief minister was proof that the JD(U) supremo had lost the trust of the BJP.
Tejaswi Yadav said that an FIR lodged recently in Begusarai against independent journalist Ajit Anjum, whose YouTube channel has been running a series on SIR.
Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary rose to state that the reports filed by Anjum were fake, which evoked a retort from Tejaswi Yadav: "Who are you to decide that?”
