New Delhi, July 26 (IANS) Congress MP Abhishek Singhvi on Saturday said Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav’s warning of a possible Mahagathbandhan boycott of the upcoming Assembly elections reflects the latter’s anguish.

“We need to look at the underlying pain in his statement. Which political party would not want to contest an election, after so much hard work in Bihar?” he said, while talking to reporters in Delhi

The Congress leader said Tejashwi Yadav’s statement also reflects anger and pain implying that the Opposition is being asked to contest an election which has already been tilted in favour of the rivals.

The Congress MP hinted that a threat of disenfranchisement hangs over the heads of crores of people in Bihar, so all options would remain open to people over the issue.

“Just in case a collective initiative is taken against the exercise, then it would be a slap on the face of people who are expected to safeguard the institutions of democracy. If this happens, what kind of credibility will the EC be left with,” he said.

Earlier on Thursday, Tejashwi Yadav said, “We are openly considering what is happening with the voter list and have kept the option of boycotting the elections open.”

The elections have “no meaning if they are compromised,” he said.

Tejashwi alleged large-scale fraud in the voter revision process, claiming, “Lakhs of forms are being filled at one place with forged signatures. The Election Commission’s process, backed by the government, is a fraud to artificially inflate voter numbers. If foreigners are illegally voting, how did they enter the list despite the NDA ruling Bihar for 20 years and the Centre for 11 years?”

He expressed disappointment that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar did not answer queries in the House on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar electoral rolls, stating that the silence indicates the government’s endorsement of ECI’s alleged fraudulent process.

Tejashwi pointed out that the ECI’s affidavit in the Supreme Court does not mention foreign voters.

He said that if any foreigners have names in the voters’ list, identifying illegal foreigners is the job of the Union Home Ministry, not the Election Commission.

Tejashwi also accused Deputy CM Samrat Chaudhary of lying, noting the Labour Ministry has admitted in Lok Sabha that three crore people migrate from Bihar for work, contradicting the government’s narrative.

–IANS

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