New Delhi: Slamming the Congress and the RJD for targeting institutions with a “false” narrative, the BJP on Sunday launched a broadside against Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav for a “failed” attempt to discredit the recent electoral roll revision exercise in Bihar by claiming that his name had been struck off.
Addressing mediapersons, Patra said the problem lies in the INDIA bloc as its constituents – the Congress and RJD – are determined to discredit the Election Commission of India (ECI) and “safeguard only their dynasties”.
He said, “Tejashwi on Saturday claimed that his name had been struck off from the electoral roll after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and he may not be able to contest the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections.”
The BJP MP said the Leader of Opposition in Bihar gave a live demonstration to locate his EPIC in the roll.
“When he failed to find his EPIC number, he claimed that democracy is in danger, as his EPIC number was not in the list. But the election office promptly refuted his charge,” shared Patra.
He said what is shocking is that the EPIC number cited by the election office was different from the one that Tejashwi Yadav was trying to locate in the voter list.
“Does this not raise a doubt that he has a duplicate EPIC number. I want to ask him if he has indeed made a mockery of the democratic process by possessing two EPIC cards,” said Patra.
“Can you imagine the state of affairs in Rashtriya Janata Dal where the leader has two cards? How many voter cards do RJD workers possess? Is this the reason why the RJD was afraid of the SIR?” asked the BJP national spokesperson.
Patra also circulated printouts of Bihar electoral rolls prepared ahead of the 2020 and 2025 Assembly elections to show Tejashwi’s name in the voter list and prove that the election office was relying on the same EPIC number that the RJD leader cited in his nomination papers.
The BJP leader accused the RJD leader of forgery and attempting to vote at two separate places using his two EPIC numbers.
Earlier, while refuting Tejashwi’s allegations of wrongdoings in the SIR, the Bihar election office sources hinted that the Leader of Opposition in Bihar may have illegally acquired a second voter ID card a decade ago.
The election office source said that an inquiry into the RJD leader’s electoral roll records has, so far, shown that his now-defunct second Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) was never generated through an official channel.
The BJP MP said this controversy does not pertain only to Tejashwi but reflects the mentality of the INDIA bloc parties, which want to target constitutional institutions like the ECI.
“Both Sonia Gandhi and Lalu Prasad Yadav are not looking to save the nation but trying to secure the political careers of their sons,” he said.
“Perhaps, this is the atom bomb that Rahul Gandhi was threatening to explode over electoral malpractices. But let me clarify that the country is not afraid of the dud atom bomb of Rahul Gandhi that has turned out to be like Pakistan’s failed atom bomb,” said Patra.
(IANS)
