Oppn alleges foul play; EC denies charges

New Delhi: As the electoral battle in Bihar has locked in a close fight, the Opposition alliance has accused Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of pressuring officials on election duty for not issuing victory certificates to winning candidates of the Grand Alliance.

The opposition alliance has alleged that it has won 119 seats but the candidates are not being issued victory certificates as Election Commission is working under the guidance of the Nitish Kumar government.

A delegation of Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) also met Bihar Election Commission on late Tuesday night and lodged their complaint about foul play in giving victory certificates to winning candidates of Congress and RJD. Submitting a digital copy of the counting trend of Rajapakar Assembly seat displayed at Election Commission website, a Congress leader said, "At the ECI website, the Congress candidate Pratima Kumari was leading by a significant margin of 2,670, while returning officer was allegedly declaring JDU candidate as the winner." However, after the issue was raised, Kumari was declared a winner from Rajapakar seat.

"Similarly, at Hilsa Assembly seat, the RJD candidate Shakti Singh was declared winner by the returning officer and was told to wait for the certificate, but after sometime, the RJD nominee was told that he has lost the poll by a margin of 12 votes as postal votes have been rejected," he said. Accusing the state government of murdering the democracy, Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala said, "Despite being declared as the winner, Congress candidate from Kishanganj seat Ijaharul Husain has not been issued certificate."

The RJD has also alleged that official on election duty are not issuing winner certificate to about 119 candidates who have been declared winner by the returning officers.

However, the Bihar Election Commission has rejected the allegations of the Opposition Alliance saying that there are some seats where margins are very less and the Election Commission has directed its officials to recount the vote on the request of candidates.

Rejecting all the allegations, the EC asserted that it was working with due diligence and was not under anyone's pressure.