Jan Suraaj Founder Claims Possible Rigging in Bihar Assembly Elections, Admits Lack of Evidence
Prashant Kishor alleges poll rigging despite lacking concrete proof.
Election strategist Prashant Kishor, founder of the Jan Suraaj party, has publicly alleged irregularities in the recent Bihar Assembly elections, describing the process as potentially rigged while conceding a lack of substantial evidence to support his claims. Speaking in an exclusive interview with India Today TV on Sunday, Kishor expressed profound disappointment over his party's dismal showing, framing the outcome as a stark mismatch with the grassroots enthusiasm observed during their extensive campaign yatra.
Kishor highlighted discrepancies between pre-election feedback and final results, suggesting interference by unidentified powerful entities that inflated votes for obscure parties. He revealed mounting public pressure to attribute the anomalies to electronic voting machine tampering, yet emphasized that such assertions remained unsubstantiated allegations at this juncture, underscoring the need for further scrutiny into the electoral integrity.
A key accusation leveled by Kishor targeted the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), whom he accused of systematically distributing cash incentives to female voters to secure their support. From the election announcement through polling day, he claimed, thousands of women received an initial Rs 10,000 payout, with assurances of up to Rs 2 lakh total contingent on backing Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, marking an unprecedented scale of financial inducement in Indian electoral history.
Also Read: Prashant Kishor Begins Silent Fast at Bhitiharwa Ashram After Bihar Poll Debacle
The strategist also attributed part of Jan Suraaj's setback to entrenched voter apprehensions surrounding the "Jungle Raj" era associated with Lalu Prasad Yadav. Many potential supporters, Kishor argued, hesitated to back his party due to fears that fragmented votes could inadvertently facilitate a return to that turbulent period, prioritizing perceived stability over emerging alternatives.
Dismissing detractors who proclaimed the end of his political journey, Kishor asserted his enduring relevance in the public eye, viewing the scrutiny as validation of his influence. Despite contesting 238 out of 243 seats, Jan Suraaj secured no victories and garnered merely 2–3% of the vote share, with the majority of candidates forfeiting their deposits in a resounding electoral rebuke.
Also Read: Prashant Kishor Claims JD(U) Would Have Won Only 25 Seats Without Pre-Poll Cash Transfers
