Patna, Oct 28 (IANS) Alleging that nearly 6,000 votes cast for his party’s candidate in the Patna Graduates’ constituency were rejected on technical grounds to favour JD(U) candidate Neeraj Kumar, veteran leader and State President of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar, Magani Lal Mandal on Wednesday said discrepancies in counting had affected the outcome of the Bihar Legislative Council elections.
Speaking to IANS, Mandal claimed that his party’s candidate had secured the highest number of votes but alleged that a large number of ballots were rejected to ensure Neeraj Kumar’s victory. He said the party would decide on a possible appeal after reviewing the complete results.
“Nearly 6,100 of our votes have been rejected on technical grounds because they wanted Nitish Kumar ji’s candidate, Neeraj, to win. We got the maximum votes. There is a discrepancy in counting too,” he alleged.
He said the use of ballot papers in the elections meant that the outcome could remain uncertain until all votes and preference rounds had been counted. In such elections, he noted, candidates could experience shifts in their positions as second, third and fourth preferences were counted.
“We will formulate a strategy regarding a potential appeal once we have reviewed the full results,” Mandal said.
He also attributed the INDIA Bloc’s failure to achieve its desired results in the MLC elections to the Congress party’s approach, alleging that the contest had turned into a “friendly fight” between alliance partners. He said the lack of timely coordination and a failure to finalise joint candidates had weakened the opposition’s prospects.
Mandal said Congress leader Madan Mohan Jha’s defeat was also a setback and expressed sadness over the outcome. He added that the alliance had not announced a common candidate in advance, pointing to a lack of clarity in its electoral strategy.
Commenting on the Congress’s political approach in Karnataka, Mandal said the party appeared to be concentrating heavily on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls while issues such as unemployment and inflation also needed attention.
He argued that political movements could have one primary objective but should address a broader range of public concerns. “An agitation cannot have a single issue. It can have a single primary goal, but there ought to be issues to be raised,” he said.
On the debate over electronic voting machines (EVMs) and ballot papers, Mandal said neither system should be treated as an unquestionable solution. While acknowledging the possibility of technical problems with EVMs, he maintained that such faults should be corrected rather than returning entirely to ballot papers.
“EVMs can have issues, technical issues. This is our party’s stance, and I agree with it. However, ballot also cannot be the ultimate solution because the votes of the minority sections are subsumed,” he said.
Mandal further argued that ballot-based elections could fail to adequately protect the voting rights of minorities and said electoral systems needed to evolve with technological advances.
Turning to protests against demonstrations and political mobilisation, Mandal alleged that opposition to agitations was being used as a pretext to restrict democratic freedoms. Referring to his own experience of participating in protests when he was younger, he said the current opposition was notable because businesspeople were also speaking out.
He alleged that some of those opposing protests were acting on behalf of the BJP and described the arguments against demonstrations as a facade intended to suppress dissent.
Invoking former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s references to “limited democracy” and a “limited judiciary”, Mandal said it was time to implement that ‘limitation.’
“Democracy can only be guaranteed by the one who is in power. Touting the idea of democracy and practising democracy have distinct attributes,” he said.
–IANS
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