RJD alleges ‘Venezuela-type poll fraud’ in Bihar election

Patna: Some two months after the NDA stole the show in Bihar, the RJD on Tuesday alleged “Venezuela-type electoral fraud” during the recently concluded assembly elections in the state.

NDA returned to power with a historic mandate, restricting the opposition to just 41 seats in the 243-member state assembly. The party also dared the NDA to conduct the elections using ballot papers to test its popularity, summarily rejecting the people’s mandate.Talking to reporters on Tuesday, RJD’s chief spokesperson Shakti Singh Yadav said they do not accept the 2025 Bihar poll mandate, terming it the “victory of machinery”, rather than democracy.

He said if instant measures were not taken to set things right, democracy would be in a grave danger.“The constitutional bodies are facing existential threats and efforts are on to control them. Similar things happened in Venezuela, and we strongly condemn the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by the US force,” Yadav told the TOI on Tuesday. He said although democracy in the country is deep-rooted, God forbid anyone casting an evil eye on the democratic system.

Reacting sharply, the JD(U) slammed the RJD for comparing Indian democracy with that of Venezuela. “Should we learn from Venezuela now?” asked JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar, and mocked Tejashwi Prasad Yadav’s continuation as the leader of opposition in the state assembly. “If the Bihar mandate was fraudulent, then why did Tejashwi accept the post of LoP in the House? Why did he not oppose it and resign from the post?” asked Kumar.Questioning the 2025 Bihar poll outcome, the RJD leader said the opposition INDIA bloc got more than 1.90 crore votes, yet mysteriously lost the elections. “We don’t accept the mandate as we did not lose the elections... Loktantra hara hai, machinery aur Chunao Aayog jeeta hai (Democracy lost but machinery and Election Commission won),” he alleged.He said during the poll people talked about change in the govt, but the result was just the opposite.

“There is no question of accepting the mandate... we got 1.90 crore votes despite large-scale political fraud,” Yadav alleged.He said the NDA people would badly lose elections if polling was held using ballot papers. “Now, elections with EVMs must be stopped forthwith as it is not safe,” he alleged, claiming the counting of ballot papers showed the opposition leading over the NDA on 143 seats.He said Tejashwi would leave for a statewide yatra after Jan 14. “We are chalking out plans for his yatra. We can’t be a mute spectator to the issues of people’s concern. We will ultimately emerge victorious,” he said.Tejashwi returned from his long foreign trip on Sunday night and is expected to reach Patna soon.