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'Sutra ko mutra…': RJD's Tejashwi Yadav turns down Bihar illegal voters claim
Tejashwi Yadav mocked a journalist over a query on the possible presence of illegal migrants in Bihar electoral roll and said such sources he considers 'urine'.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav was on Sunday seen slamming a journalist for citing “sources” over a query on the possible presence of illegal migrants in Bihar electoral roll and said such sources he considers as “mutra” (urine).
In a press conference on Sunday, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav raised concerns about voter verification and possible deletion of names from the electoral rolls.
During the press conference, Tejashwi Yadav was asked about reports of possible presence of foreign illegal migrants in electoral rolls across India, something that the Election Commission plans to carry out an intensive review over.
On this, Tejashwi Yadav asked the journalist about the origin of the news. The journalist then can be heard saying “sources” to Tejashwi Yadav's query.
Tejashwi Yadav then replies, "hum wo sutra [sources] ko mutra samajhte hain… iska koi adhaar nai hai. [We consider these sources as urine, waste]."
Election commission officials on Sunday claimed that field-level functionaries of the ECI have found "a large number of people" from Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar during house-to-house visits made for the ongoing intensive review of the voters' list in Bihar.
Addressing the press conference in Bihar's Patna, Tejashwi claimed that if even one per cent of voters are left out during the verification process, nearly 7.9 lakh voters across the state could lose their right to vote. "This means around 3,251 voters could be removed in each assembly seat," he said.
He pointed out that during the last election, RJD lost 52 seats by margins of just around 5,000 votes. "If 3,200 votes are cut in each assembly, it can make a big difference," news agency ANI quoted Tejashwi.
Tejashwi alleged that many of these voters are people who have migrated outside Bihar for work and questioned whether their names were being removed without proper checks or communication. "Is this just eyewash? Why are these voter deletions happening under the direction of Amit Shah or Modi ji?" he asked.
He asked whether the Election Commission was carrying out these actions without informing the public and demanded transparency in the voter verification process ahead of the elections. "Is this being done without concern, without informing the voters?" he added.
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise being carried out by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in Bihar ahead of the upcoming assembly elections has invited massive backlash, with the opposition parties and calling the revision of voter list as "backdoor NRC (National Register of Citizens)" alleging "vote theft" while also prompting them to question the independence of the constitutional body.
However, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the centre, along with the double-engine government led by Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar in Bihar, has accused the opposition of "playing politics on the shoulders of wrongfully registered voters" while claiming that they were targeting the ECI to save themselves from political defeat.
Bihar elections are expected to be held later this year, in October or November.
