Boycott Bihar elections? Tejashwi Yadav's RJD might skip assembly polls, BJP says...

The RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said on Thursday (July 24) that the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar could boycott the assembly elections scheduled for later this year. Reacting to the Special Intensive Revision row, Yadav said, “We are keeping the option of boycotting Bihar assembly polls open." His statement came amid the controversy on the Election Commission’s voter roll revision in Bihar.

"When everything is already decided...that there will be an open fraud...lakhs of names will be erased, and these were the same people who voted for PM Modi...when these people elected previous governments, then suddenly what happened?" the Bihar leader asked while talking to the press, news agency ANI reported.

Yadav also added," It means that the government is itself saying that they are fraudulently elected...so if there has to be a fraud, then we might think about boycotting it (elections)."

The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) reacted to Yafav's remarks, alleging that he already had figured out his “defeat.” "Tejashwi Yadav has made a statement about boycotting elections, but he hasn't specified which election... He has probably figured out that there is a complete defeat for the RJD and alliance partners, or he is doing some politics. He is a serious man, and if he is saying this, it means he can see his defeat," BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy told ANI.

Meanwhile, the Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan said, "Now he feels that he will lose the election. As long as there are no fake voters, how will they win the election? When the fraud was caught, they are saying they won't contest the election."

Foreigners among 78 million voters in Bihar?

Yadav previously dismissed the reports claiming the presence of foreign voters in Bihar's electoral rolls. He called such reports "mutra" (urine). While speaking at the Mahagathbandhan press conference, Yadav was reacting to inputs reportedly received by the Election Commission that fake voters from Bangladesh and Nepal were present in the state.

"The commission says they got inputs or 'sources' (sutra) about this. These are not sources, they are 'mutra,'" Yadav said. Yadav also questioned the legitimacy of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and alleges serious flaws in the process.