NEW DELHI, OCT 4: Virtually accusing the Election Commission of looking the other way when rampant election malpractices took place in Madhepura in Bihar, the Janata Dal (United) today demanded that the polling here be countermanded.``The least that the commission can do now is to countermand the polling held there and order an inquiry if the constitutional body is to restore its authority,'' JD (U) spokespersons Mohan Prakash and Jaya Jaitly told reporters today.All the directives of the Election Commission aimed at ensuring a free and fair election were flouted with impunity by the RJD whose chief Laloo Prasad Yadav took on his JD (U) counterpart Sharad Yadav in Madhepura, they said, announcing that Sharad Yadav would go on a fast-unto-death from Tuesday demanding repoll in the entire constituency."The commission is finding it easy to take the word of the State administration at face value on the issue of deployment of security forces in parts of the constituency. The fact is that the forces did not reach the places they were assigned to," they said."If the commission passes this off as a routine matter it will be a bad sign for democracy," they remarked.But the JD (U)'s ally, the BJP, did not seem to support the demand for countermanding of the poll. Its spokesman K L Sharma agreed that malpractices had taken place in the constituency and repoll had been ordered in some booths. But the party's State unit had not demanded that a repoll be held in the entire constituency, he said.Prakash and Jaitly did not hide their anger at the way the commission had not acted upon the consistent warnings given by the JD (U) since September 20. "We tried to contact the commissioners on Sunday but they did not even come on the line. For the first time a national party has not been given an appointment by the commission," they charged.The spokespersons even shot off a letter to Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill. ``Political parties that believe that faithful following of instructions by the State administration would enable a free and fair poll "are by now disabused of their faith in the effectiveness of the Election Commission to carry out its own instructions," the letter said.They said that the repoll could be held along with the polling for four seats in the State which is due for October 28.Meanwhile, Sharad Yadav said in Madhepura that he would not break his fast till the commission ordered repoll in the entire constituency. "I am even ready to sacrifice my life for the demand," he added.
