A fresh political storm has erupted in Bihar after a video featuring Union Minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) founder Jitan Ram Manjhi surfaced, where he suggested his party lost a crucial assembly seat "by mistake." The remarks have provided fresh ammunition to the opposition INDIA bloc, which has reignited its allegations of electoral malpractice, or "vote chori," against the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The Controversial Video and Its Content
In the video, believed to be recorded in Manjhi's Lok Sabha constituency of Gaya, the minister is heard discussing the outcome of the Tekari assembly seat. His party's candidate, Anil Kumar, was defeated in the recent polls. Manjhi stated that the candidate lost because he did not consult him for a "solution" or "upay."
Manjhi drew a direct comparison with the 2020 assembly elections, claiming that the same candidate was trailing by 2,700 votes but emerged victorious after seeking his help. This time, however, the candidate lost by a narrower margin of 1,600 votes. "He lost the seat by mistake as he didn't consult me... Instead of contacting me, he chose to concede defeat," Manjhi is heard saying in the clip.
Adding more fuel to the fire, the octogenarian leader mentioned that a former District Magistrate of Gaya, now posted in Tripura, who had allegedly helped his candidate win last time, recently called him to ask what went wrong this election.
Opposition Fury and Allegations of Vote Theft
The video was swiftly circulated by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress combine as concrete "proof" of their long-standing accusations of vote theft against the NDA. The opposition's reaction was swift and severe.
The RJD, in a post on social media platform X, asserted that Manjhi's comments confirmed their repeated allegations. They accused the NDA of trying to "politically assassinate" leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and questioned how long the truth could be hidden. The party alleged the NDA's victory was not due to popularity but through "distributing money," poll malpractices, and "machine management."
The Congress was equally scathing. Party spokesperson Asit Nath Tiwari labeled Manjhi's comments an "unparalleled example of the biggest dacoity in democracy." He expressed shock that a Union Minister was publicly admitting to getting a candidate elected with the help of a district official.
Denials and Damage Control
Facing intense backlash, Jitan Ram Manjhi quickly claimed the video was doctored. In his own post on X, he alleged the video was "tampered with" by certain people to defame a "son of a Musahar" (a marginalized community). He defiantly stated that no one could insult or fool him anymore, declaring that "Manjhi has now become a brand."
Coming to his ally's defense, BJP minister Dilip Kumar Jaiswal offered a different interpretation. He argued that Manjhi was referring to a legitimate recount of votes, not any fraudulent activity. Jaiswal pointed to other closely contested seats the NDA had lost as evidence that votes cannot be altered in Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) counting.
The controversy unfolds against the backdrop of the NDA's decisive victory in the Bihar assembly elections, where they secured 202 out of 243 seats. The INDIA bloc, comprising the RJD, Congress, Left parties, and others, managed to win 35 seats. The HAM(S), which was allotted six seats under the NDA arrangement, won five, with Tekari being the only loss.
