Patna: Three days following a major defeat in the Bihar Assembly elections, Tejashwi Yadav convened an important review meeting at his official residence on Polo Road. Both winning and losing MLAs were invited, along with notable figures like former state president Jagdanand Singh and Baahubali leader Surajbhan Singh. MLA Alok Mehta, speaking outside the meeting, asserted that “there was clear disturbance in the election, which is why such a result came.” However, the most serious accusation came from RJD MLA Bogo Singh, who retained the Matihani seat. He claimed that NDA leaders “bought Jeevika Didis’ votes” by transferring Rs. 10,000 each to millions of women before the election. “The NDA’s ground had slipped, so they bought votes of Jeevika Didis.
The Election Commission should take responsibility for the error and explain what occurred,” he stated. Singh further mentioned that the cash transfers were accompanied by promises of an additional Rs. 2 lakh if the NDA regained power. “The election was stolen, it was rigged,” he emphasized. Former MLA Akhtarul Islam Sahin also shared similar concerns, asserting that these transfers had disrupted the fairness of the electoral process.
According to party sources within the review meeting, the primary goal was to collect direct feedback from losing candidates, with Tejashwi aiming to comprehend “what went wrong at the grassroots level.” The discussions reportedly included: Local dissatisfaction in various constituencies, organizational deficiencies and factional issues, failures in booth-level management, ineffective communication of the party’s election issues to voters, lapses in ticket distribution, and whether candidate choices played a role in the loss.