Controversy Over Bihar' Hilsa Seat Continues As RJD Alleges Unfair Vote Counting; EC Says "Norms In Order": Reports

According to the results displayed by the Election Commission of India on its official website, JDU candidate Krishnamurari Sharan won the Hilsa seat by defeating RJD's Shakti Singh Yadav with the margin of 12 votes.

(PTI Photo) (PTI05-11-2020_000131B)

Even days after Nitish Kumar led NDA won the thrilling assembly elections in Bihar, the heated controversy over the Hilsa seat continues. The Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav has claimed that the rejected postal ballots marks the difference between their victory and defeat in Bihar elections. According to the results displayed by the Election Commission of India on its official website, Janata Dal (United) candidate Krishnamurari Sharan aka Prem Mukhiya won the Hilsa seat by defeating RJD's Atri Muni or Shakti Singh Yadav with the margin of 12 votes. Krishnamurari Sharan bagged 61,848 votes, while the RJD candidate got 61,836 votes. From the total 551 postal votes received for the seat, 182 were declared invalid. The JDU candidate got 232 postal votes and the RJD, 233 but the the opposition party has alleged an attempt to falsely declare the seat as a JDU win. After RJD's claim, Bihar's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) reportedly clarified that only in the Hilsa assembly constituency was the winning margin less than the number of invalid postal ballots. The official told the Indian Express that all the postal ballots in the Hilsa sear were recounted and found to be in order. Initially, the Returning Officer (RO) junked RJD's request to recount EVM votes as well as the postal ballots, but "To satisfy the candidate, the RO permitted recounting of all 551 postal votes, including the invalid ones. The result remained unchanged," Bihar CEO HR Srinivas told the publication. The remarks came after Yadav on Thursday claimed alleged unfair counting of voted and said "we would have returned with a tally of more than 130 seats had the counting been fair. We demand recounting of postal ballots in all such constituencies and the process be videographed." In the results that came on November 10, the NDA that fought the elections under its chief ministerial candidate Nitish Kumar managed to bag 125 seats in the 243-member Assembly.