- Prashant Kishor accused BJP and JDU of paying 1.21 crore women Rs 10,000 each to buy votes
- Kishor claimed JDU distributed Rs 100 to Rs 125 crore per constituency before the Bihar election
- He said Rs 10,000 payments swayed votes and led to JDU winning 85 seats, far beyond predictions
Former poll strategist Prashant Kishor - whose fledgling Jan Suraaj made its electoral debut (and flopped) in the Bihar Assembly election - accused rivals Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal United of paying 1.21 crore women Rs 10,000 each, as well as an additional sum of Rs 2 lakh over six months for self-employment, to 'buy' their votes for a landslide win.
In his first post-poll interview, Kishor told NDTV's Editor-in-Chief Rahul Kanwal the Rs 10,000 - paid out days before voting, formally to start their own business - "was enough to sway votes". The offer, he claimed, ensured Nitish Kumar's JDU swept to victory in 85 seats - 42 more than it managed in the 2015 election and 60 more than he had predicted.
"Rs 10,000 was enough to sway votes. JDU shouldn't have gotten more than 25 seats. The NDA bought votes with cash," he told NDTV, claiming also that the JDU dispersed crores - between Rs 100 and Rs 125 - to each constituency.
"I firmly believe this... JDU shouldn't have won more than 25 seats. But now they have 'won' 80+, people are telling me 'your analysis was wrong'. It looks wrong on the surface... but, if you look closely, one of the factors is that the government gave Rs 100 to Rs 125 crore to the public (before voting) and, of this amount, 60,000 to 62,000 people were given Rs 10,000 each."
Responding to a point about government welfare schemes - like those in Madhya Pradesh, where the ruling BJP announced the 'Ladli Behna' in January 2023, months before the election - Kishor questioned the timing of the funds being released.
"Yes, some may say a government runs schemes like this (the Rs 10,000 was released under the 'Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana') ... which is fine. But what happened here is that this money was given from the day the manifesto was released to the day the election happened," he told NDTV, also questioning the Election Commission for not taking action.
In an earlier press conference, Kishor also said he would hold the re-elected BJP and JDU alliance to account over this particular pre-poll promise. "In six months, the Nitish Kumar government should provide self-employment opportunities... so 15 million Bihar people can be freed from poverty... so they don't have to go to Tamil Nadu or Gujarat to look for jobs."
This is not the first time Kishor or the Jan Suraaj has flagged allegedly dubious pre-poll payouts. On Sunday, Jan Suraaj senior leader Uday Singh said Nitish Kumar's government had "diverted" a Rs 14,000 crore from a World Bank fund.
"From June till when the poll was announced, Rs 40,000 crore was splurged by the Nitish Kumar government to purchase votes. The scale was unprecedented. Even a Rs 14,000 crore loan the state received from the World Bank was diverted..."
NDTV Explains | Why Rs 10,000 Is Not Sole Factor Behind Women's Bumper Support For NDA
Question marks over the Rs 10,000 were also raised by another opposition leader, Mukesh Sahani of the Vikassheel Insaan Party, whose party also failed to win any seats despite he being declared a presumptive Deputy Chief Minister.
READ | "Giving Rs 10,000 To Women During Polls...": Mukesh Sahani On Bihar Loss
Kishor - who has orchestrated dominant election wins for the BJP and JDU in the past - predicted a 'sink or swim' result for himself in his first poll, declaring the Jan Suraaj would either win a large number of seats or fail to get any.
As it turned out, his latter forecast was right. The Jan Suraaj began strongly, leading in four seats as counting began November 14, but faded away as the rounds progressed, ending with zero wins and a vote share below four per cent.
READ | "Zero Seats, 99% Candidates Flopped": BJP Mocks Prashant Kishor's Poll Debut
Exit polls had predicted this rout; a poll of exit polls studied by NDTV gave the Jan Suraaj only one seat.
Asked about the results, Kishor, who did not himself stand for election, though he had earler indicated he would, told NDTV that while his party's attempts did not yield electoral success, they did re-shape the political discourse in Bihar.
READ | "May Be Mistake For Me To Not Contest Bihar Polls": Prashant Kishor To NDTV
Kishor said the four key voter groups in Bihar are those voting in the name of caste and religion, as well as those voting for the NDA because they are scared of Lalu Yadav, and those voting for the opposition because they are scared of the BJP.
The Jan Suraaj, he said, dented the first and second groups but could not influence the third and fourth.
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