The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has once again strongly asserted that the people's mandate in the recently concluded Bihar assembly elections was manipulated, a day after the Election Commission of India dismissed allegations of irregularities in the vote counting process. The party has framed the outcome as a product of systematic "machinery management" by the ruling coalition.
Allegations of Systematic Manipulation
In a sharp video statement released to the media on Friday, RJD's chief spokesperson, Shakti Singh Yadav, launched a scathing attack. He alleged that the 2025 poll results were engineered, claiming a manipulation of 25,000 to 30,000 votes in each assembly constituency. "This time, it was not vote chori (theft); rather, dacoity was committed on our votes," Yadav stated, escalating the rhetoric.
To substantiate its charge, the RJD pointed to remarks made by Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi. The party cited Manjhi's past comments about assisting a candidate to win during the 2020 assembly polls as evidence of the ruling coalition's tactics. "Manjhi's revelation only tells about the game the ruling coalition played in the elections," Yadav argued, adding, "Janadesh se hera-pheri kiya gaya hai (The people's mandate has been tampered with)."
NDA's Ground Reality vs. EVM Results Questioned
Yadav presented a puzzling contrast, alleging that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had minimal visible presence during the campaign but still secured victory. "The NDA didn't exist on the ground this time, yet the votes spilled out of EVMs. This is very surprising," he remarked. The RJD insists that the NDA must be held accountable for "using machines and officials to arrange the mandate in its favour."
Expressing grave concern, the RJD spokesperson labeled the situation as perilous for democratic foundations. "Democracy can't survive for long when people start doubting the mandate," Yadav warned. He claimed that the election outcome is being widely debated and questioned by voters across every corner of the state, indicating a deep-seated public distrust. "Bahut bada khela hua hai (A very big game has been played)," he concluded.
BJP's Firm Rejection and Counter
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swiftly and categorically rejected all allegations, accusing the opposition of raising unfounded claims to mask its electoral defeat. Danish Iqbal, the state BJP media head, dismissed the RJD's charges, stating the party was "crying hoarse" after being left with no substantive political issue.
Iqbal challenged the veracity of the rigging claims, asking, "Not a single voter has come forward to say his or her vote was stolen. So, what kind of allegation is this?" He asserted that the elections were conducted in a completely fair and transparent manner.
Defending the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls—a process often criticized by the opposition—Iqbal described it as the most transparent system to purify voter lists. "The names of only those persons were removed from the rolls who were dead, had shifted elsewhere, or had multiple entries," he explained. He posed a rhetorical question to counter the opposition's narrative: "Is removing the name of deceased and shifted voters vote theft?"
The political stalemate continues, with the RJD vowing that the truth cannot be suppressed indefinitely, while the BJP maintains that the people's verdict is clear and final.
