Shehzaad Poonawalla dismisses Tej Pratap Yadav’s 'vote chori' accusations after Rise and Fall 2 win

After Tej Pratap Yadav called Shehzad Poonawalla’s Rise & Fall victory vote chori and said Gautam Gulati deserved to win, Shehzad defended the result.

Former BJP spokesperson and political commentator Shehzad Poonawalla participated in Amazon Prime Video's reality show Rise & Fall season 2 and emerged as the winner, beating Priyanka Chahar Choudhary and Gautam Gulati. He also won ₹35 lakh in prize money, which he pledged towards flood relief efforts in Bihar and Assam. However, not everyone was pleased with his victory. Tej Pratap Yadav, who was not part of the finale, called it "vote chori" and said that Gautam Gulati deserved to win.

Shehzad Poonawalla slams Tej Pratap Yadav questioning his win over Gautam Gulati.

Shehzad Poonawalla reacts to Tej Pratap Yadav questioning his win

Tej Pratap and Shehzad had shared a friendly bond inside the penthouse, making the politician's remarks particularly disappointing for the winner. In an interview with Hindustan Times, Shehzad hit back at Tej Pratap over his comments and claimed that the politician had "run away" from the show out of fear of being sent to the basement.

Shehzad hit back at Tej Pratap for calling his Rise & Fall season 2 victory ‘vote chori’. He brought up the corruption allegations against Tej Pratap's family, referring to the fodder scam and alleged irregularities in Group C and Group D job recruitments. Shehzad said Tej Pratap should be careful about accusing others of theft, given the allegations against his family. He also drew a comparison with political reactions to election results, saying that people often question the EVMs after losing an election. Similarly, he said that contestants tend to blame the show and its makers when they lose a reality show.

Shehzad further pointed out that the format used to select the winner was the same as the previous season, when Arjun Bijlani, Aarush Bola and Arbaaz were competing for the title, except that this time it was a tie and it went into a tiebreaker

Shezad further talked about Tej Pratap's gameplay and said, "So unfortunately Tej Pratap never kind of knew anything about this show. He would ask me what to do next, what to vote. Then he was very scared, too, like, what if I go to the basement? So I told him, 'Don't worry if you go to the basement; we will help you.' So he got so scared that he ran away from the show."

Shehzad took a dig at Tej Pratap, calling him the “joker of Indian politics”. He said that while political leaders have different roles, Tej Pratap was the joker and added, "I don't think anybody in Bihar takes him seriously. And see, the good thing is that I gave my money, whatever I won to the People of Bihar for the flood, so maybe whatever wealth they have looted from the people of Bihar, maybe they can just divert some of that and give it back to the people of Bihar; it will be better for his reputation also."

What Tej Pratap Yadav said about Shehzad Poonawalla's win?

After Shezad lifted the trophy of the show, Tej Pratap took to X, shared a picture with Gautam Gulati and wrote, "Gautam Gulati was the one who deserved to win, and the public’s love and support were entirely behind him. But what can we say now... the public’s votes were stolen here too. Reality shows aren’t fair anymore either! The BJP supporters made their old yes-man—the one who kept saying “yes, sir, yes, sir”—Shehzad Poonawalla the winner, to reward him for his sycophancy. Gautam Gulati was the one who truly deserved it, but the trophy was handed to their favourite instead. This is a huge betrayal of the public’s votes and feelings in the name of a reality show."

Tej Pratap Yadav questions Shehzad Poonawalla's win.

Tej Pratap and Shehzad shared a friendly bond inside the show and often made decisions together. Their closeness did not go unnoticed, with several housemates accusing Tej Pratap of always listening to Shehzad and acting on his advice. However, Tej Pratap quit the show in the third week, citing personal reasons.