Patna (Bihar) [India], November 17 : The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) held a meeting on Monday to evaluate the party's poor performance in the Bihar Assembly election, which saw the Mahagathbandhan fold at 35 seats, with the RJD winning 25 of them.
Following the meeting, RJD leaders stated that the party is "unable to digest" the mandate, which elected the NDA alliance with 202 seats out of 243, and blamed "vote theft" and "misuse of EVMs" in the election.
RJD leader Shakti Singh Yadav said, "In the review meeting, party chief (Lalu Yadav), former CM Rabri Devi ji, senior leaders, including Jagadanand Singh and Uday Narayan Singh ji, expressed their views on the public mandate. It is clear that neither the public nor the political parties can digest the mandate that has been delivered."
"This mandate has come from machinery management. 90% strike rate is not possible for any political party in the world," he added.
Newly elected RJD MLA Bhai Virendra alleged that vote theft has been done through EVM and demanded elections using ballot papers.
"EVM mein chori hui hai. We have to fight against EVMs. We demand that elections should be held using ballot papers," he said.
RJD senior leader Jagadanand Singh said, "These machines (EVMs) were misused."
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by Nitish Kumar registered a landslide victory in the Bihar polls. The NDA has secured 202 seats out of 243, with the BJP emerging as the single largest party, winning 89 seats.
NDA: BJP: 89 seats, JD(U): 85 seats, LJP (RV): 19 seats, HAM (S): 5 seats and RLM: 4 seats, while Mahagathbandhan: RJD: 25 seats, INC: 6 seats, CPI(ML)(L): 2 seats, CPI(M): 1 seat
IIP won 1 seat and AIMIM won 5 seats. The NDA's victory is attributed to Nitish Kumar's welfare schemes, including the Mahila Rozgar Yojana, which provided ₹10,000 to 1.25 crore women. Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the victory as a win for good governance and development.