Bihar election results: EC says 'under no pressure'; debunks RJD's '119 seats-won' claims

Debunking RJD's claims of 'Election Commission under pressure', the apex poll body said that it was under no pressure and that counting was still on in several assembly seats. Maintaining that all declared results were publically available, Deputy Election Commissioner (EC) Chandrabhushan Kumar said that results of 146 seats had been declared. Debunking RJD's claim that '119 candidates had won', EC shared a list of counting rounds that were still underway and is expected to be completed by midnight. Currently, NDA holds a lead with 122 seats, Mahagathbandhan has 113 seats.

Bihar Election Results 2020 LIVE Updates: NDA eyeing majority; EC debunks RJD's claims

EC: 'Not under any pressure'

With RJD claiming that its postal ballots are being rejected, EC stated that as per procedure, if the margin is low then rejected postal ballots will be counted, under video supervision as per EC rules. The poll body has held four press conferences throughout the day, explaining the delay in election results due to an increase in counting booths. Over 4.1 crore votes have been polled in the 3 phases of elections.

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What has RJD claimed?

RJD made a sensational claim that at least 119 Mahagatbandhan candidates had already won, inspite of counting being done in several assembly seats. Alleging that the Returning Officer had already congratulated these candidates, it contended that some of them were not been given winning certificates. Claiming that their victory was shown on the Election Commission of India's website, RJD affirmed that such "loot" will not be tolerated in a democracy.

According to the key Mahagatbandhan constituent, the tally was being shown as 109 instead of 119. Moreover, it reiterated that Bihar CM Nitish Kumar was calling up officials to rig the election results. The party stated that the officials were now telling some of the aforesaid candidates that they had lost the polls. Similarly, Congress communications in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala alleged that the party's Rajapakar candidate Pratima Kumari had not been handed over the winning certificate despite trouncing her opponent from JD(U). 

RJD alleges '119 Mahagatbandhan candidates won', EC's counting status update belies claim

Latest Bihar trends

As per the latest EC trends, RJD is touted to be the single-largest party leading in 77 seats, followed by the BJP leading in 72 seats. The JDU is set to emerge third leading in 42 seats, while Congress is leading in 19 seats. LJP has won a single seat, while AIMIM has exceeded expectations leading in 5 seats. Bihar polls were held in three phases on October 28, November 3 and November 7.

Bihar vote count likely to continue till late in the night; counting not slow: EC