Leaders of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), who were given party symbols for the assembly polls yesterday evening, were recalled late at night and asked to return the symbols. The party’s leader, Lalu Prasad Yadav, who returned from Delhi yesterday, reached home to find a crowd of poll ticket aspirants outside the gates.
As per an NDTV report, some of the aspirants who apparently received calls from the party leadership went inside. Minutes later, they emerged with yellow envelopes in their hands. The envelopes, according to reports, contained documents endorsing the candidates as the party’s poll picks.
Hours later, after this development, Mahagathbandhan’s Chief Ministerial face, Tejashwi Yadav, reached his Patna residence after returning from Delhi. Shortly after, all the RJD leaders who received symbols that evening got phone calls and were asked to visit the leader’s home and return the symbols.
An ambiguity still persists regarding why the leadership asked them to return the symbols. Some leaders, such as Ashraf Fatmi, stressed that “nobody was given the symbol” and that the photos in the media are “AI-generated.”
Among those who got the symbol in the evening and had to return it at night are Sunil Singh, who quit Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) last week, and Narendra Kumar Singh, alias Bogo, a former MLA.
These developments have further raised the political fervor, coming at a time when parties in the Mahagathbandhan are yet to formally announce their seat-sharing plans and the constituencies they will contest from.
RJD allies include Congress, Left parties, Mukesh Sahni’s Vikassheel Insaan Party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, and RLJP led by former Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras. All allies are currently bargaining hard for favorable seat deals.
Polling in Bihar will be held on November 6 and November 11. Friday, October 17, is the last day for filing nominations for the first phase. The last day of filing nominations for the second phase is October 20. Results will be declared on November 14.
