EC orders fresh polling in Patna

The repoll was postponed following a request from the state government to ensure additional deployment of central para-military forces.

After four days of consultations with the Bihar chief electoral officer and returning officers in the state, the Commission declared the February 16 polls in Patna "null and void" and ordered fresh polls be held with the date to be decided later.

In the 1991 polls, election in Patna was countermanded following largescale violence and boothcapturing. I K Gujral was the Janata Dal candidate in the election.

The current electoral contest in Patnais a multi-cornered one with Ram Kripal Yadav of the ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal and C P Thakur of the Bhartiya Janata Party being the main contenders.

Referring to its impending decision on Madhepura and the Baghpat constituency in Uttar Pradesh, the Commission said it would order a repoll only after it considers the findings of a detailed enquiry into poll-related violence in the two constituencies.

The Commission had been beseiged by complaints from all the major political parties in the fray alleging rampant rigging and intimidation of voters in a large number of polling stations across the constituency.

The Commission’s Secretary K J Rao held an enquiry in Patna where he heard the views of all the contesting candidates, police officers and electoral officers in the state.

The Commission also directed that a number of senior officials involved in conducting the polls be transferred out of Patna, including the District Magistrate of Patna who was the returning officer for the constituency, theDeputy Inspector General of police, the Superindentendent of Police and and city SP.

The state govt has been instructed that these officials be replaced with officers of "adequate seniority, time-tested experience of administration and proven record of integrity and impartiality."

Earlier in the day, the EC’s Nirvachn Sadan headquarters witnessed a host of complainants who came to apprise Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill about the election malpractices in the first phase of polling and their apprehensions about the next phase.

The BJP urged Gill to take a decision on repolling in Bihar before the second phase of elections on Sunday following large-scale malpractices in the Patna and Madhepura seats. They also said that the Central Industrial Security Force, which was guarding the ballot boxes, was being withdrawn by the Bihar government and replaced by state forces. "It is apprehended that this is being done to enable the RJD to attempt large-scale tampering of these ballot boxes," they toldGill.

Similar complaints were also received about the crucial Madhepura Lok Sabha constituency.

The high-profile bureaucrat-turned politician N K Singh, who is contesting from Madhepura on a Samata party ticket, demanded a repoll in 799 polling stations in the constituency.