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Laloo meets EC, claims polling was peaceful
The RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav on Saturday complained before the EC that they had "misled" the EC and wasted its time by lodging a "flimsy" charge that polling had been rigged in Bihar.
Seeking to turn the tables on NDA leaders, RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav on Saturday complained before the Election Commission that they had "misled" the EC and wasted its time by lodging a "flimsy" charge that polling had been rigged in Bihar.
After a nearly 30-minute meeting with the three-member Commission, Yadav told reporters that polling was peaceful in Bihar this time "and the credit goes to the Election Commission, State Government and Laloo Prasad Yadav".
"Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy and other NDA ministers have raised a hue and cry and misled the Commssion that there were irregularities in Chapra," he said, adding it was their "old habit to save their face from the ignominy of defeat".
Asked about his opinion on the BJP demand for countermanding of polling in Chapra, the RJD supremo, who is locked in a fierce contest with Rudy there, said the NDA leaders had submitted false reports to the Commission.
"We have told the Commission that it was free to hold repoll in those polling booths where it felt there was rigging. We are not making any demand as polling was peaceful," Yadav, who was accompanied by party MP Prem Gupta, said.
Yadav said he appealed to the Commission "not to get carried away by NDA's demand for countermanding Chapra polls and do only what it thought fit."
Alleging that Rudy had not disclosed in his affidavit that there was a flat in his wife's name, Yadav said he had drawn the Commission's attention to Rudy's property and submitted documents to substantiate his claim.
Regarding the polling in Siwan and Bettiah, the two places where the Commission has ordered inqiury into charges of irregularities, the RJD leader refuted the allegation that booths had been captured and asserted that polling was peaceful. Even repolling was over in these two constituencies, he pointed out.
Referring to JD(U)'s demands for repolling in over 200 booths in Madhepura, where Laloo Yadav is pitted against his friend-turned-foe Sharad Yadav, the former Bihar Chief Minister maintained that polling was peaceful in that key constituency.
On his allegation that BSF personnel were found helping the voters in two polling stations in Madhepura to cast their ballots, Yadav demanded that action should be taken against those securitymen as their role could lower the credibility of the para-military forces.
He said the EC gave him a patient hearing and promised to take appropriate decision. "I am fully satisfied with EC's assurance," he added.
