New Delhi: Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder and Bihar’s Bankipur bypoll candidate Prashant Kishor on Sunday (July 26) accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of threatening women voters with denial of welfare scheme benefits if they don’t vote for the party. The election is scheduled to be held on July 30. Kishor alleged that the BJP has deployed thousands of party workers, NDA leaders and actors and even ‘Jeevika Didis’ for the campaign. Neeraj Kumar Sinha is the BJP nominee from the seat. “The BJP will claim we’re losing so we are making such statements. Jeevika Didis are being pulled into Bankipur bypolls. Under the guise of promoting voter awareness, Jeevia Didis, who are employed by the state government, were tasked with telling women they would stop receiving welfare benefits, including ration and pension, if they did not vote for the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) or the BJP, EC must take note or we will conduct sit-in protest. The Bihar chief minister held a rally yesterday and Jeevika Didis were brought here from across the state on government money. Election Commission must take action,” Kishor said, addressing a press conference in Patna.The Hindu reported that the Patna district administration on Saturday (July 25) at 9.56 am, posted some images of a Jeevika Didi at a door-to-door voter awareness campaign in Bankipur assembly constituency, with the BJP’s flag visible in the background. The administration deleted the controversial post in a few hours.In a separate post, the administration wrote, “Door-to-door voter awareness programme in Bankipur assembly constituency by the National Urban Livelihoods Mission team” was posted on social media at 11.15 am.” Commenting on the issue, Kishor said, “It is not enough for the DM [District Magistrate Kundan Kumar] to simply delete a tweet (social media post). He must issue an order stating that no woman associated with ‘Jeevika’ nor any employee or semi-government worker, can be part of the election process. The Patna DM committed a shameful act yesterday through an official tweet. All day yesterday, these Jeevika Didis held meetings and went door-to-door, telling women that failing to vote for the BJP would result in the loss of all government-provided benefits.”The JSP founder also alleged that the Patna police were harassing the leaders of his party who were staying in hotels adding that many of them had travelled at their own expense and were facing daily raids at their accommodation.“The BJP and the Election Commission need to explain the presence of BJP members staying here. Why are those hotels not being raided? Why are they not being asked who is paying their bills? Who is paying for the accommodation and meals of the large number of BJP members who have arrived? They need to clarify this as well,” Kishor was quoted as saying by TH.