With exit polls predicting the victory of the RJD-led Grand Alliance, the party on Sunday warned its workers not to allow celebratory firing and “rude behavior” towards rivals on the day of the vote count. November 10, regardless of the results.
In a tweet to its workers, the party said: “Whatever the results of the November 10 elections, they must be accepted with absolute moderation, simplicity and courtesy.
“Inappropriate fireworks, celebratory shots and rude behavior towards our rivals or their supporters will not be accepted at any cost,” he said.
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Votes will be counted on November 10, the day after RJD chief ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav celebrates his 32nd birthday.
The instructions to party workers to behave decently on count day is part of Tejashwi’s efforts to end the “rowdy behavior” that prevailed at such times in the past and establish a new culture.
Several exit polls released Saturday night have predicted that Mahagathbandhan will win a majority in Bihar’s 243-member assembly.
The chairman of RJD’s Bihar unit, Jagdanand Singh, said supporters have been told to accept the poll results with “all humility.” Praising Tejashwi, Singh said “while Lalu Prasad is the center of ‘astha’ (faith), Tejashwi is the center of ‘wyavastha’ (arrangements) of the festival.”
Singh, a close confidant of Lalu Prasad, told party members that Tejashwi worked hard to win people’s faith in the party and their duty to all to uphold it.
RJD spokesman Mrityunjay Tiwari said the party’s own assessment of its sources on the ground suggests it will win more seats than expected in exit polls.
“There is a wave of support for Mahagathbandhan and Tejashwi Yadav. We will win with a two-thirds majority, ”he told PTI.
Read also: More than 1,100 candidates with criminal records contested the Bihar assembly polls
The RJD election campaign focused on Tejashwi Yadav’s promise to provide 10 lakhs of government jobs to the youth of Bihar.
His rival continued to attack the party for its record in law and order, and also criticized it as a “raj of the jungle” during the 15-year rule of Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi.
At a rally during the polls, BJP chief JP Nadda had attacked the RJD for its reputation for preferring muscle power over ideology, saying the party has a history of leading ‘Tail Piyawan, Danda Bhanjan (dipping lathis in oil and wielding them to assert power) ‘rally.
Nadda refers to Tel Piyawan, Danda Bhanjan was a throwback to an RJD rally in 2003, two years before the party was ousted from power in Bihar.
As the name suggests, party workers and supporters wearing ‘lathi’ (stick) had participated in that demonstration at Gandhi Maidan in the state capital.
In its second tweet on Sunday, the RJD asked its workers to take into account that, regardless of the results, “at the center of its policy is the elevation of the public and its convenience.”
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