Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, whose party emerged as the single-largest in the Bihar Assembly elections, told reporters on Thursday that even if someone else sits on the chief minister’s chair, the people’s mandate was clearly in his favour.
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Yadav thanked Bihar’s people for voting in favour of the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance), and added, “The mandate favoured Mahagathbandhan, but Election Commission’s result was in NDA’s favour. This hasn’t happened for the first time. In 2015, when Mahagathbandhan was formed, votes were in our favour but BJP made a back-door entry to gain power”.
Calling elections a fight to save democracy, Yadav drew attention to the established rules of counting postal ballots first before Electronic Voting Macines (EVMs) can be counted, claiming that not all postal ballots were counted. He read out the rules of counting from the Election Commission’s rulebook and claimed these weren’t followed to the letter.
He invoked Nitish Kumar’s words of pledging sainthood after his last term in office to call on him to awaken his conscience. “Nitish Ji should stop plotting if he has some morals left. He must respect people’s decisions and step down from his position. Earlier, he spoke about his retirement from politics. During his last days in politics, he shouldn’t do something disrespectful.” Yadav said referring to Nitish Kumar’s earlier announcement that this might be his last election.
{{/usCountry}}He invoked Nitish Kumar’s words of pledging sainthood after his last term in office to call on him to awaken his conscience. “Nitish Ji should stop plotting if he has some morals left. He must respect people’s decisions and step down from his position. Earlier, he spoke about his retirement from politics. During his last days in politics, he shouldn’t do something disrespectful.” Yadav said referring to Nitish Kumar’s earlier announcement that this might be his last election.
{{/usCountry}}“See where Nitish Kumar’s glow has gone. He has been pushed to third position. This is a mandate for change. Nitish Kumar is sitting in the chief minister’s chair but we are in people’s hearts,” tejashwi was quoted as saying.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) managed to retain power in Bihar with the BJP’s 74 seats propelling the alliance past the majority mark of 122 in the 243-member Bihar assembly. However, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal-United won only 43 seats and was placed third, a fact that has been receiving widespread criticism and attention from political oppositions, as Kumar gets ready to take oath as the state’s chief minister once again