NDA victory in Bihar: Election Commission was complicit, incompetent, says CPI candidate who lost by 484 votes

The Election Commission of India (ECI), which is an autonomous and constitutional body, acted as an arm of the Modi government during the counting for Bihar polls, alleged CPI candidate from Bachwara constituency Awadhesh Kumar Rai who lost the election by just 484 votes.

Speaking to National Herald over phone, Rai, who was leading in the counting till the evening but was declared defeated at the end, said that the ECI used the Covid-19 pandemic as a pretext to rig elections in favour of the BJP-JD(U) alliance.

“The Covid-19 pandemic was used as a pretext to put curbs on us (Mahagathbandhan) while for the BJP-JD(U), it came as an opportunity,” Rai said.

“If I was leading since morning till evening, how is it possible that after the final round of the counting, I was declared defeated?” asked Rai who was defeated by BJP's Surendra Mehta.

Questioning the role of the ECI in the victory of BJP-JD(U) alliance, Rai alleged that the ECI indulged in favouritism at every step.

“For instance our poll agents list was not issued till noon on the day of counting...This shows how unprofessional the election body is,” he asserted. It is worth noting that out of 243 seats of the Bihar Legislative Assembly which went to polls, the winning margin on 11 seats was less than 1,000 votes.

As per ECI data, a narrow margin helped the National Democratic Alliance – the JD(U), the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Vikassheel Insaan Party and the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) – win 21 seats.

For instance, in Hilsa, the Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate lost to the Janata Dal (United) candidate by just 12 votes.

Similarly, in Barbigha, JD(U) candidate Sudarshan Kumar defeated Gajanand Shahi of the Congress by just 113 votes. Likewise, in Gopalganj’s Bhorey assembly seat, Jitendra Paswan of CPI(ML) lost to JD(U)’s Sunil Kumar by 462 votes. The CPI(ML) has demanded a recount of votes, alleging that the local JD(U) MP was illegally present during the vote counting process.