PATNA: As the results in the Bihar assembly elections went down to the wire, there has been a flurry of complaints from the RJD and the Congress about alleged malpractice in counting of votes and claims that their candidates are not being issued election certificate despite having won.

The RJD claimed that results of 119 seats, where the candidates of the Mahagathbandhan, have won have been withheld by the Election Commission. It made the allegation in a series of tweets, one of them claiming that while the alliance has won 119 seats, 109 was being shown as its tally. It alleged that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was pressurising the officers involved in the election process to manipulate the results.

The Congress too made similar claims, with AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala specifying the instances of Rajapakar and Sakra constituencies. He said the party's Rajapakar candidate Pratima Kumar Das said while she has won by 1,720 votes, she is not being given the election certificate. In Sakra, he said, the Congress candidate Umesh Ram stated that he won by 600 votes but was declared as having lost by 1,700 votes.

Reacting to the allegations, Election Commission director General Umesh Sinha said he wanted to make it clear that the entire election machinery and the officials are carrying out the counting process as per procedure. “The Commission never works under pressure from anyone. The procedure as laid down in the rule book, has been followed, and it has taken the time that is naturally required.”

In response to allegations levelled by the RJD about 119 candidates of the Mahagathbandhan having won, deputy election commissioner Chandra Bhushan Kumar said, “You would have seen our website, where the trends are available constituency wise. The results of 146 seats have been declared, and in 97 cases, the trends are available. This is the factual position available in public domain.”

The Commission said in the seats where the margin is slim, a candidate can seek a recount in the event of the difference in votes being lower than the number of postal ballot votes rejected.