Tejashwi targets ECI for not disclosing 1st phase data; BJP says opposition rattled by imminent defeat

Patna: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Monday criticised the Election Commission of India for not releasing voter data of the first phase polling in Bihar held on November 6. "Today is November 10. Even after four days, the data has not been made public about how many males, females and youths cast their votes... Earlier, they used to release the data the same day, manually. Why is the data being concealed," Yadav asked.

"The second phase of voting is on November 11 and counting is on November 14. But you won't know for more than four days how many votes were cast... BJP will carry on with its sins, and ECI will keep covering... ECI is dead and has become a tool," he said.

RJD's Manoj Jha wrote a letter to ECI, demanding the release of gender-wise polling data of the first phase and sought an explanation for the delay. Tejashwi alleged police companies from BJP-ruled states have been deployed to influence voting.


"208 police companies have come to Bihar from BJP-ruled states... This raises serious questions about security during the Bihar elections. Why were police not called in from Bengal, Karnataka or Tamil Nadu? Jharkhand is just nearby, why not from there?"

BJP termed Tejashwi's attacks "frivolous". "Whenever Rahul Gandhi or allied parties don't get what they want, they start making frivolous statements about institutions like the Election Commission, courts, CAG and Parliament. It is their nature to attack all the crucial organs of democracy," BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad told media persons in New Delhi.