Tejashwi Yadav hints at possibility of poll boycott over voter list ‘manipulation’

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has hinted at the possibility of the opposition INDIA Alliance boycotting the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar, alleging that the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is being used to manipulate the voter list in favour of the ruling NDA.

When a news agency asked whether the opposition could mutually decide to boycott the elections, Tejashwi Yadav said: “That too can be discussed. We will see what the people want and what everyone’s opinion is.”

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“If the BJP wants to run the government using fake voter lists, then just give them an extension. What’s the point of holding elections if the entire process is dishonest,” he asked.

This statement came amid the INDIA Alliance’s ongoing protest against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

For the past three days, allies of the INDIA bloc have been protesting in the Assembly against the SIR exercise alleging that an attack on the right to vote and democracy being carried out under the guise of voter list revision by the Election Commission at the behest of the BJP government.

Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav also had a heated argument with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sinha in the Assembly on Wednesday.

Later, addressing a press conference, Tejashwi Yadav posed several questions to the Election Commission with facts, arguments, and data, and alleged that under the guise of the voter list revision campaign, the BJP and the Election Commission are purging opposition voters.

In a message posted on X, Tejashwi Yadav said: “In reality, this entire revision campaign by the Election Commission is part of a well-planned conspiracy! Seeing the prospect of defeat in the Bihar elections, these BJP people want to remove the names of weaker sections, minorities, Dalits, backward classes, and supporters of opposition parties from the voter list to disenfranchise them from democracy and the Constitution. We will not let this arbitrariness prevail in Bihar.”

He added: “We will not let the right to vote be snatched away. We will not let the Constitution be murdered. We will not let anyone’s vote be suppressed. We will not let the Election Commission’s arbitrariness prevail.”