Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and INDIA bloc’s chief ministerial face Tejashwi Yadav on Monday (Nov 10, 2025) criticized the Election Commission of India (ECI) for “not releasing gender details” of voters even four days after they cast their votes in the first phase of the Bihar Assembly elections.
Bihar Assembly Elections: Watch Updates, Highlights 10 November 2025
“The ECI has not yet provided 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 revealed,” Yadav said.
“In the age of technology, why are numbers being hidden? Earlier, 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 this information, and that raises suspicions,” he said.
He said the ECI has tarnished its name on the issue and wondered where the electoral body stood.
“The ECI has become a target of ridicule and democracy is being mocked. Even the foreign media is laughing at the EC,” said the Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly.
Claiming that at many places, the CCTV cameras in the counting centers were switched off for some time during the night, Mr. Yadav said the ECI should explain why this was happening.
He had earlier raised the issue of large number of VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) tickets found in Sarairanjan in Samastipur.
The RJD leader also claimed that 208 police companies from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states were involved in poll work and 68% of observers in 243 assembly constituencies were also from BJP-ruled states.
“Police forces have participated in elections before, but they were central security forces. This is the first time that police forces have been brought from BJP-ruled states. But police forces from neighboring states like West Bengal and Jharkhand have not been called, nor have police forces from opposition-ruled states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Tripura and Punjab been called in. What is the reason?” asked Mr. Yadav.
Mr Yadav, who held 171 public meetings during his campaign, said the people of Bihar had voted for change and transformation in the first phase.
“The unrest between BJP and JD-U (Janata Dal-United) leaders after the first phase of polling clearly shows that the people of Bihar want to get rid of negative politicians and a decrepit and incompetent government,” 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 about to make history and wanted to usher 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 that the overall male-to-female voter turnout ratio was generally given at the time of final turnout.
Almost 80% of the police were deployed from the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) and only about 20% of the police were deployed from the state armed police, which were proportionally selected from different states based on availability.
The ECI said the police force was drawn from 24 different states, including Jharkhand, Telangana, Kerala, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka. Observers were deployed proportionally from all states, regardless of which party was in government.
CCTV cameras were functioning in all the vaults and if any malfunction was found, it was rectified immediately, the official said.
“The RJD is blaming the Election Commission and the Prime Minister for fear of losing the elections,” Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Samrat Choudhary said.
Published – 10 Nov 2025 20:24 IST
