Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress on Tuesday night met with the officials of the Election Commission (EC) in Patna alleging vote fraud in the counting process for the Bihar Assembly elections on behalf of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
A delegation of the two parties raised the issue with the Election Commission and said that Nitish Kumar, also the chief of Janata Dal (United), was allegedly influencing the counting of votes. The RJD alleged that several of its candidates were denied victory certificates after the returning officers concerned received phone calls from the Chief Minister's Office.
"There are over a dozen of seats where tampering has been done. They (BJP and JDU) are trying to change the people's mandate. Nonetheless, we will form the government even after all such ill-intended attempts," said RJD leader Manoj Jha meeting with the EC officials.
He further said, "The Election Commission has assured us that they will try to address all our grievances. We trust the EC but not the district administrations."
Vote fraud
In a series of tweets, the RJD on its official handle alleged that its candidates at Hilsa and Barbigha Assembly seats were declared victorious by the returning officers but later denied the certificate after getting calls from the residence of the Chief Minister.
RJD candidate Shakti Singh from Hilsa assembly constituency was declared victorious by the returning officer by 547 votes. Was asked to wait for the certificate. Then a phone call comes from CM house to RO (returning officer) and suddenly the officer says that he lost by 13 votes because of the cancellation of postal ballot," a tweet reads.
Reiterating the charges, Congress national spokesperson Randeep Surjewala alleged that the party's candidate from Kishanganj seat was declared victorious but denied the certificate. "How much more rigging will be done in Bihar elections? In Kishanganj, Congress candidate won by 1,266 votes. The BJP candidate had gone home. Now the Congress candidate is being denied the certificate. Democracy is being abducted and killed," he tweeted.
EC denies charges
Denying the charges of irregularities in the voting process, Election Commission Secretary-General Umesh Sinha said, "Election Commission has never worked under anybody's pressure. All officials and machinery are working sincerely for declaration of Bihar election results".
The Election Commission denied RJD's claims that 119 results in its favour were not being declared, adding that EC website has the actual picture -- 146 results and 97 trends. "About an hour ago, there was a post by a party on social media claiming that their party has won 119 seats. It is to clearly state that all results are on our portal, total results declared as of now are of 146 seats, that is the factual situation," it said.
The EC Deputy Commission said, "Existing instruction states 'where the margin of victory is less than no. of postal ballot papers rejected as invalid at the time of counting, rejected postal ballot papers will be mandatorily reverified by returning officer before the declaration of result."
BJP claims victory
Reacting to the charges by the Congress and the RJD, BJP state president Sanjay Jaiswal said that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had gained the majority.
"We have achieved an absolute majority because there is so much difference between NDA and RJD that there is no possibility of any change now. They have a single agenda. If they win, everything is right and if not, they allege cheating," he said.
According to the Election Commission, the BJP-led NDA has won 90 seats while RJD-led Mahagathbandhan has emerged victorious on 86 Assembly constituencies as the counting is still underway.
