Patna: Playing hardball on special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav Thursday asserted that the option is open for his party and its allies to “boycott” the assembly polls in the state due later this year.
In response, NDA leaders claimed that Yadav’s comment indicates the opposition party has “conceded defeat”.
The leader of the opposition hardened his stance during an interaction with journalists outside the assembly, minutes after telling the House 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.
“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 said.
Yadav seemed upset that during the discussion inside the House, in which alliance partners also took part, “Chief Minister Nitish Kumar did not utter a word” when Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary “sought to mix things up by equating SIR with the annual revision of electoral rolls that takes place to strike off the name of deceased voters and other minor corrections”.
The EC has so far claimed to have covered, under SIR, “99 per cent” of the state’s 7.9 crore voters, of whom the number of deceased electors has been stated to be “21.6 lakh”, in addition to another “31.5 lakh who have permanently migrated”.
However, 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, could 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 also alleged that “the real game” will begin from August 1 when the EC, done with the collection of enumeration forms filled up and signed by respective voters, 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.
The Congress, an ally of the RJD, also said in Delhi that the “Tughlaqi process” of the SIR in Bihar will be opposed at all forums and “all options are open” for the INDIA bloc.
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 has conceded defeat”.
Nonetheless, on a day when a procession of the Congress against SIR met with water cannons fired by police in Patna, Yadav seemed to be firing on all cylinders, and his fulminations on the issue continued through the day.
He has been turning up at the ongoing monsoon session of the assembly dressed in black as a mark of protest against SIR. On the penultimate day, he was all fire and brimstone, even in the post-lunch session when he participated in a debate on a cut motion moved by the opposition.
He began by trying to fish in the NDA’s troubled waters, claiming 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.
Yadav also inveighed against 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 Yadav: “Who are you to decide that?”
The leader of the opposition’s confrontational stance provoked members on the ruling side, many of whom started trooping into the well and nearly came to blows with the rivals.
Yadav also attacked BJP MLA Janak Singh, whom he accused of having “hurled expletives against my mother and sisters”, and warned: “If you speak loudly, you will end up wetting your pants”.
Another BJP MLA Sanjay Singh was seen ripping off the mic attached to his desk and charging towards the opposition.
Speaker Nand Kishor Yadav salvaged the situation by adjourning the proceedings.
Later, the RJD leader alleged before media persons that the BJP leaders had, seemingly, “come prepared to intimidate me. Let them get me killed if it pleases them. I will not put up any defence. I am ready to surrender my licensed weapon”.
PTI
