Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and the INDIA bloc’s chief ministerial face Tejashwi Yadav on Monday (November 10, 2025) criticised the Election Commission of India (ECI) for “not disclosing gender-wise data” of electors even four days after they had cast their votes in the first phase of the Bihar Assembly election.
Bihar Assembly elections: Follow updates, highlights on November 10, 2025
“The ECI has not yet provided the data to the people of Bihar even four days after the first phase of elections, nor has the percentage of male and female voters been dislcosed,” Mr. Yadav said.
“Why are the figures being hidden in the era of technology? Previously, all information was available manually within 24 hours, but in this age of technology, people want to know why the Election Commission is not providing the information, and this raises suspicion,” he said.
The ECI had maligned its name on the issue, he said, and wondered where the poll body stood.
“The ECI has become a laughing stock and democracy is being mocked. Even foreign media is laughing at the EC,” the Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly said.
Alleging that, in many places, the CCTV cameras at the counting centres were being turned off for some time in the night, Mr. Yadav said the ECI should explain why this was happening.
Earlier, he had raised the issue of a large number of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail(VVPATs) slips that had been found in Sarairanjan in Samastipur.
The RJD leader also claimed that 208 companies of police from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled States had been engaged in election work, and 68% of the observers in the 243 Assembly constituencies were also from BJP-ruled States.
“Police forces used to participate in elections previously but they were Central security forces. This is the first time that police forces from BJP-ruled States have been brought. However, police forces from neighbouring States like West Bengal and Jharkhand were not called, nor were police forces from Opposition-ruled States like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Tripura, and Punjab called. What is the reason?” Mr. Yadav asked.
Mr. Yadav, who held 171 public meetings over the course of his campaign, said the people of Bihar had voted for change and transformation in the first phase.
“The uneasiness among the BJP and JD-U (Janata Dal-United) leaders after the first phase of voting clearly shows that the people of Bihar want to get rid of negative politicians, and a dilapidated and incompetent government,” Mr. Yadav said.
Accompanied by his elder sister and Lok Sabha MP Misa Bharti, and Rajya Sabha MPs Sanjay Yadav and Manoj Jha, Mr. Tejashwi Yadav said that the people of Bihar were going to create history, and wanted to bring in “a government that provided jobs and pens” as the people of Bihar appreciated development and positive thinking.
‘80% CAPF’
Responding to Mr. Yadav’s remarks, an ECI official said the overall male/female gender ratio in voter turnout was generally provided at the time of the final turnout.
Nearly 80% of the police were deployed from the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), and only about 20% of the police had been deployed from the State Armed Police, drawn proportionately from different States based on availability.
The ECI said police forces had been taken from 24 different States, including Jharkhand, Telangana, Kerala, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Karnataka. Observers had been deployed proportionately from all States, irrespective of which party was in the government.
CCTVs cameras had been functioning at all strong rooms, and if any malfunctioning came to light, it was promptly rectified, the official said.
“The RJD is blaming the Election Commission and the Prime Minister out of fear of losing the election,” Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Samrat Choudhary said.
Published – November 10, 2025 08:24 pm IST
