Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi
From Neeraj Kumar
Patna: A statement by Union Minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) leader Jitan Ram Manjhi has sparked a political storm after a video surfaced in which he is allegedly heard claiming that during the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections he had telephoned the district magistrate to ensure the victory of a candidate who was trailing by 2,700 votes.
Amid the controversy, Manjhi rejected the allegation, terming the video misleading and wrongly interpreted. Clarifying his remarks, he said the reference was to the process of recounting, not to any undue influence.
“This is a wrong video. In that election, you may remember that after recounting, one candidate won by 27 votes, while a JD(U) candidate lost by 27 votes. The point is that recounting can be sought,” Manjhi said. He added that in 2020, the HAM (Secular) candidate from Tikari, Anil Kumar, had won after recounting, and his comment was only that the candidate should not have fled and should have demanded recounting this time as well.
Manjhi said that Abhishek Singh was the district magistrate in 2020 and was a competent and fair officer. “We requested the then DM to provide the recounting figures and he did so. This time too, the DM was good. Had recounting been demanded, the data would have been provided and we might have won,” he said, adding that this was the context of his remarks.
Following Manjhi’s statement, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has gone on the offensive, claiming it validates their long-standing allegations of vote theft. RJD leader Gautam Krishna described Manjhi’s remarks as a “confessional statement” and demanded that the Election Commission immediately constitute a team to conduct an impartial probe into the Bihar Assembly elections.
The controversy centres on a video that went viral from a felicitation ceremony held at Mohanpur High School premises in Mohanpur block of Gaya district’s Barachatti Assembly constituency, organised to honour HAM MLA Jyoti Devi. In the clip, Manjhi is heard saying that in 2020, when their candidate was trailing by 2,700 votes, efforts were made and the seat was eventually won, while this time the candidate lost by 1,600 votes due to not seeking recounting, leading to the loss of the seat.
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