The Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) elected RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav as its legislative party leader on Thursday and reiterated its stand that the counting was not done as per the rules of the Election Commission. The alliance demanded recounting of the postal ballots in constituencies where the winning margin was low.

‘Verdict against Nitish’

Talking to reporters in Patna, Yadav claimed a powerful Prime Minister, Chief Minister and his government and the big corporate houses were together against the grand alliance but despite that it had done well. Money and muscle power helped the NDA to retain power but the glitter will not last long. The Bihar Assembly verdict is against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who should stop clinging to power, he said.

He alleged that a number of postal ballots were termed invalid and they should have been counted again as in many seats the victory margin was very low.

“You have to satisfy all candidates if there are any doubts. The alliance’s chief ministerial face said the NDA got 1,57,00,728 votes while the grand alliance got 1,56,88,458 and the difference between both the fronts is 12,270 votes and 15 seats.

‘EC has to explain’

“The Election Commission should explain under whose pressure they decided not to count some postal ballots terming it invalid,” he said. “It was undoubtedly a mandate for change. The NDA won by dhan , bal and chhal (money, muscle power and deceit),” he alleged and added that for the alliance, it is a fight to save democracy.

“How can it convert into their victory in 15 more seats than us? We believe that had the counting of votes been fair, we would have returned with a tally of more than 130 seats,” Yadav said. He added that the alliance will continue to work for farmers and workers and will raise their issues in front of the public.

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