Bihar Polls: RJD Alleges ‘Vote Theft’ as Truck Breaches Counting Centre; District Administration Fires Back

SASARAM ( Bihar )-  In a high-stakes escalation just hours before the counting of votes in Bihar’s fiercely contested 2025 Assembly Elections, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has leveled explosive allegations of “electoral robbery” in the Sasaram Assembly Constituency of Rohtas district.

The party claims a truck laden with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and ballot boxes was surreptitiously driven into the local counting centre under the cover of darkness, prompting demands for an immediate probe by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

However, the district administration has swiftly rebutted the claims, dismissing them as a “misinformation campaign” and clarifying that the vehicle was transporting routine empty boxes for logistical purposes.

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The incident, which unfolded in the early hours of Thursday, has ignited fresh tensions in an already polarized electoral landscape, where exit polls overwhelmingly favor the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

With counting scheduled to commence at 8 AM across the state, the controversy threatens to cast a shadow over the results in Sasaram—a key seat in the Rohtas parliamentary constituency, long considered a BJP stronghold but hotly contested this time by RJD’s candidate Manoj Kumar Kushwaha against BJP’s Haribhushan Thakur Bachol.

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According to RJD sources and viral social media footage circulating since the early morning hours, the drama began around 2 PM on Wednesday when CCTV cameras monitoring the strong room at the Vajra Griha counting centre—located at the Takiya Market Committee premises—were reportedly switched off without explanation, showed a video footage shared by @GautamB58738095 in X ( formely twitter )

This blackout, the party alleges, created a window for foul play, allowing unauthorized access to the sealed EVMs stored there since polling concluded on November 7.The plot thickened around 3 AM, when party workers on overnight vigil spotted a truck approaching the premises. In a video clip shared widely on X (formerly Twitter), the vehicle—described as a large goods carrier—is seen navigating the dimly lit entrance, its cargo allegedly bulging with sealed ballot boxes and EVM units.

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RJD activists, led by local leaders, confronted the drivers, leading to a tense standoff. “We physically stopped the truck from entering further. The drivers were in plain clothes, with no official markings or permissions visible,” recounted an RJD worker in the footage, which has garnered thousands of views and retweets under hashtags like #BiharElection2025 and #SaveDemocracy.

The workers claim they were outnumbered and briefly scuffled with security personnel before the truck was turned away. Shockingly, they allege, the drivers were permitted to flee the scene by local police, who cited “procedural lapses” but took no immediate action to impound the vehicle or its contents.

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“This is not just a breach; it’s a blatant attempt to tamper with the people’s mandate,” thundered RJD spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwari in a press statement issued at dawn. The party has tagged ECI officials, including Bihar’s Chief Electoral Officer Vinod Gunjiyal, in multiple X posts, urging an emergency intervention.

RJD leaders have framed the Sasaram episode as part of a larger pattern of “systematic vote theft” across Bihar. In recent days, the opposition Mahagathbandhan alliance—comprising RJD, Congress, and Left parties—has filed over a dozen complaints with the ECI, citing similar irregularities in constituencies like Hajipur, Nalanda, and Samastipur. These include unexplained CCTV failures, unauthorized vehicle movements near strong rooms, and discrepancies in voter turnout data.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi amplified the narrative on Wednesday evening, posting on X: “To cover up this theft, all evidence is being erased. The BJP and the Election Commission are openly stealing votes—the murder of democracy is underway.”

Echoing this, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh claimed in a live update that “80 lakh votes were undeniably stolen in Bihar,” pinning the blame squarely on the BJP.

Administration’s Rebuttal: ‘Routine Logistics, No Malfeasance’Rohtas District Magistrate (DM) Priyanka Kumari, in a hurried press briefing at 7 AM, categorically denied any tampering, labeling the RJD’s accusations as “politically motivated falsehoods designed to derail the democratic process.”

She explained that the truck in question belonged to the district administration and was carrying empty cardboard boxes intended for assembling counting tables and segregating ballot papers—a standard pre-counting procedure conducted annually without incident.” The vehicle entered the premises with full authorization and under police escort. No EVMs or sealed materials were involved; a routine inspection confirmed the cargo was innocuous,” Kumari asserted, flanked by Superintendent of Police Shree Niwas Singh. She added that the CCTV outage was a technical glitch due to a power fluctuation, resolved within hours, and full footage from backup cameras would be made available to ECI observers upon request.

Regarding the drivers’ departure, the DM clarified it was to avoid escalation with the gathered crowd, but FIRs would be filed against any agitators if violence ensued. BJP state spokesperson Sidharth Nath Singh dismissed the row as “desperate last-minute drama” from a losing alliance. “Exit polls show NDA securing over 200 seats; the opposition is manufacturing controversies to explain their impending defeat,” he told reporters in Patna.

NDA leaders, meanwhile, are in celebratory mode, with victory feasts planned in Patna, contrasting sharply with RJD’s defiant vigil at counting centres statewide. Broader Electoral Backdrop and Voter StakesSasaram, with its 2.8 lakh voters, is emblematic of Bihar’s caste arithmetic: A general seat with significant influence from Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Dalits, it saw a voter turnout of 62% in the first phase on October 27. The constituency has flipped between NDA and opposition in recent cycles, making it a bellwether for the state’s 243 seats. Statewide, exit polls by agencies like India Today-Axis My India project NDA at 185-210 seats, Mahagathbandhan at 25-45, and Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party at 10-20—numbers that have fueled opposition paranoia about rigging.

The ECI, under scrutiny amid these claims, has deployed over 500 companies of central forces in Bihar and promised real-time monitoring via its cVIGIL app. As of 8:30 AM, no official statement from the commission on Sasaram has been issued, though sources indicate a high-level team is en route to Rohtas for verification.

RJD has upped the ante, warning that “thousands of supporters will flood polling and counting centres” if clarifications aren’t forthcoming by noon.

Tejashwi Yadav, the alliance’s chief ministerial face, is reportedly in constant touch with party ground workers, vowing to “fight this electoral heist till the end.” As tables are set and seals broken across Bihar’s 18,000-odd counting halls, the Sasaram saga underscores the razor-thin trust in India’s electronic voting system—a debate that could reverberate far beyond this one truck’s midnight journey. Updates on results and any ECI actions will follow as they unfold.