BJP today said it apprehended large-scale violence and rigging by ruling RJD in Lok Sabha polls in Bihar and asked the Election Commission to ensure effective deployment of Central Para-military Forces to thwart any possible attempt in this regard.
"The EC must ensure effective deployment of 108 companies of Central Para-military Forces allotted to Bihar for conduct of fair and peaceful polls," Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravishanker Prasad, who heads poll campaign committee of NDA in Bihar, said at a press conference.
Union Minister and BJP candidate for Patna C P Thakur, state NDA Convenor Nandkishore Yadav and other senior BJP leaders were also present at the conference.
The Bihar Government had sought 146 additional companies of CPMF from the Centre but due to elections in other parts of the country the demand could not be fulfilled.
"Now the EC should ensure that the available forces are used effectively. Bihar with a track record of electoral violence is a special case and the EC should give it special treatment," Prasad said.
Thakur accused the RJD of using official machinery to intimidate the voters in Patna and demanded that the entire constituency be declared super-sensitive and CPMF deployed at all polling stations.
{{/usCountry}}Thakur accused the RJD of using official machinery to intimidate the voters in Patna and demanded that the entire constituency be declared super-sensitive and CPMF deployed at all polling stations.
{{/usCountry}}Alleging that RJD workers were terrorising BJP cadres and leaders, Thakur said the recent attack on BJP legislature and party leader Sushil Kumar Modi was an attempt to instil fear among NDA supporters and voters.
Claiming that a large number of officers posted at various police stations for four years or more who had been transferred by the EC had not been relieved, Thakur said they were giving protection to "RJD hoodlums" in intimidating voters.
Nandkishore Yadav alleged sales tax personnel were being used by the ruling party to terrorise the business community, traditional BJP voters, with the threat of conducting raids.
"RJD is indulging in all these things out of sheer frustration as a certain defeat stares them in the face, not only in Patna and Bihar, but across the country," Prasad said.