Opposition may boycott Bihar poll, says Tejashwi Yadav

The Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, has indicated that Opposition parties might boycott upcoming State Assembly elections in Bihar after taking feedback from people and our alliance partners.

Earlier, Mr. Yadav had taken on the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging it has been working “at the behest of BJP and ruling NDA”.

“We will see what people want and what our allies say. If the state polls are conducted in a partial and manipulative manner where it is already decided who would win what number of seats, what is the use of conducting such an election? We may consider boycotting the upcoming state assembly elections in Bihar after taking feedback from people and our (alliance) partners”, Mr Yadav, who is from the Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal, told a news agency on Wednesday (July 23, 2025).

Earlier in the day on July 23, there was a verbal duel between ruling NDA and Opposition mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) legislators on the third day of monsoon session of the Bihar Assembly over the issue of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in the State.

Also read: Bihar Assembly session sees heated exchange between CM Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav

Later, while addressing media persons, Mr. Yadav alleged the Election Commission for “working at the behest of BJP and ruling NDA” and claimed that “the possibility of deletion of 50-80 lakh voters from the voter list is alarming”.

“If we have so many deletions from the voters list, it is clear that there would be 3,000-4,000 names of voters who would be struck off from the electoral roll on each booth of the state and this is the conspiracy of the NDA to get favourable results in the poll,” alleged Mr. Yadav.

“If they (NDA) want to win elections through fraudulent means, then what is the point in conducting elections? Chunav mat karwao (don’t hold the elections),” he quipped while speaking to the reporters.

“We’ll consult our (alliance) partners and people before taking a final decision on this (boycotting the poll),” he added.

The Ally Congress party also came out in support of RJD on the issue. “Yes, we’ll seriously discuss the issue (of boycotting the poll)… we could join any form of protest. If voters are denied their franchise, what remains in a democratic set-up of the country?” asked senior state Congress leader and legislator party leader in the State Assembly, Shakeel Ahmad Khan.

The ruling party (JD-U) leader and party spokesperson Neeraj Kumar, however, slammed Mr. Yadav for the “poll boycott threat”.

“His (poll) boycott threat shows sheer desperation and hopelessness. Has he (Mr Yadav) forgotten that the people of the state had limited his party (RJD) to just four seats in the last Lok Sabha elections in 2024?”, said Mr. Kumar.

The Opposition mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) leaders are expected to “take a final call on poll boycott in days to come”, the other leaders of mahagathbandhan told The Hindu over a phone call.

“Possibly, after the ongoing monsoon session of the state legislature, which is scheduled to be concluded tomorrow on July 25,” said one of the senior Left party leaders while seeking anonymity. The three Left Parties — the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) and the Communist Party of India-Marxists-Leninist (CPI-ML) — are part of the Opposition mahagathbandhan in the State.

The State Assembly elections in Bihar are due in October-November later this year.