PATNA, June 9 -- Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, on Sunday targeted the Election Commission of India (ECI), citing the results of the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections. He alleged that all constitutional institutions in the country had been hijacked ever since Narendra Modi became Prime Minister. Tejashwi's remarks came in the wake of an article by leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, who made serious allegations against the ECI's conduct in the Maharashtra elections. Gandhi claimed that large-scale poll rigging was carried out to defeat the leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc during the state elections. Supporting Rahul Gandhi's claims, Tejashwi said the Grand Alliance (GA) was poised to form the government in Bihar in 2020, in line with the early trends of the results. "For the first time, the ECI held three press conferences to issue clarifications. We were winning, but counting was suddenly stopped in the evening and resumed late at night. Counting began at midnight, and several GA candidates who were leading until the evening were declared defeated by narrow margins ranging from 12 to 500 votes," Tejashwi told the media in Patna on Sunday. "How does the BJP's IT Cell always seem to know the election schedule before the ECI even announces it?" he asked. He stressed that constitutional institutions must perform their duties without any bias. "If constitutional institutions are compromised, where will people go for justice? No officer should be influenced by any political party," he said. Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had written in his article that the Maharashtra elections were not an election but a well-organised match-fixing exercise. "This is a poison for democracy, and Bihar could be its next target," he claimed. ECI officials dismissed Gandhi's allegations. "Instead of writing to the EC directly, it's strange that Rahul Gandhi keeps turning to the media to air his doubts repeatedly," said a top official. "Blaming the referee after losing the match has become a standard practice." Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief JP Nadda accused Gandhi of manufacturing "fake narratives" out of desperation following election defeats. He said the Congress leader was "cooking up bizarre conspiracies" and "defaming institutions without any proof."...