Tejashwi Yadav's poll boycott threat finds few takers in Bihar Opposition: 'Must not be provoked'

Tejashwi Yadav, RJD MLA and Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly. (File: PTI)

Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday launched a no-holds-barred attack against the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls undertaken by the Election Commission of India in poll-bound Bihar, threatening that the Opposition could consider boycotting the elections altogether in protest against the alleged discrepancies in the exercise.

"We are keeping the option open for boycott of the assembly polls. When the time comes, we will take a decision following a discussion with the alliance partners. What is happening in the name of SIR is nothing short of a fraud," Tejashwi said on Thursday, staying firm on his stand stated on Wednesday.

Tejashwi's proposal, however, does not appear to have left the RJD's alliance partners in the state too impressed.

The Congress, for instance, appeared non-committal over Tejashwi's proposal and said that he wasn't aware about what the RJD leader has said. "I have not heard about what Tejashwi ji has said," he said, adding that he could not comment on whether such a proposal could be rtaken up for discussion in the coordination committee meeting of the INDIA bloc, reported The Indian Express.

Another Congress leader, however, dismissed the idea outright. "The Opposition must not be provoked into even discussing poll boycott. After all, elections alone are the way to find an answer from the people to such questions," the leader said.

Kunal, the state secretary of the CPI (ML-Liberation), another Mahagathbandhan ally in Bihar, said the party would rather wait for the outcome of the Supreme Court before jumping to conclusions.

"We do not know where this talk of poll boycott consideration comes from. The Supreme Court has been examining the matter, and we will await the July 28 hearing. We have concerns regarding the SIR process, but our booth-level agents will also provide us final feedback from the ground in three to four days. We will build pressure on the ECI to ensure that names of no genuine electors are dropped from the electoral roll," he said.

The SIR exercise has driven a sharp political divide within Bihar and outside. While the last few days of the Assembly session in Bihar have seen the Opposition up the ante against the ruling government, the INDIA bloc allies have also joined hands in Parliament and demanded a rollback of the exercise which they claim will disenfranchise lakhs of genuine voters.

The Bihar Assembly witnessed heated scenes as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Leader of Opposition Tejashwi faced off on the matter with the JD(U) chief challenging RJD to "settle the matter" among the people in the coming elections.