RJD expressed concern over the “tool kit” word used by EC.

RJD expressed concern over the “tool kit” word used by EC.
Patna June 3: RJD expressed concern over the “tool kit” used by the election commission during the press briefing on Monday.

RJD spokesperson Chitaranjan Gagan said that the Election Commission should have avoided using words like ‘tool kit’.

“The word ‘tool kit’ has been used by the BJP for opposition parties. The use of any such word which has been used by a particular party specifically for its opposition parties, the question can be raised when the Election Commission uses the same whether it is transparent or not,” Gagan said.

The RJD spokesperson said that the Election Commission did not give any satisfactory explanation to any of the questions that were raised by the opposition parties during the entire election. About the counting of postal ballots, the interpretation of 54A of the Election Conduct Rules 1961 has also been half-hearted. Starting the counting of postal ballots first only means it should be completed followed by the formal declaration of votes received by all candidates. After that, the counting of EVMs will start.

“The number of people voting with postal ballot papers has now increased considerably and it has started becoming decisive. In the last assembly election (2020), RJD was defeated in many seats due to irregularities in postal ballots. In this Lok Sabha election, there is a very close contest in many Lok Sabha constituencies and postal ballots are going to be very decisive there. In such a situation, changing the rules of counting postal ballots is not appropriate from the point of view of fair counting of votes. It is the responsibility of the Election Commission to maintain fair, transparency and credibility of the counting of votes,” Gagan said.

Chitranjan Gagan also said that RJD has made a strategy for the counting of the Lok Sabha election.

“We have issued the guidelines to all candidates of the Grand Alliance and asked them to precisely follow it. As per the strategy, we will deploy counting agents on every table at the counting centers for EVM as well as on the postal ballot. They have been asked to match the form 17C with the EVM before the start of counting. If form 17C would not match with the EVM, it means EVM had changed,” Gagan said.

While explaining, the form 17C, Chitranjan Gagan said that the 17C form was attached with EVMs at the polling centers soon after the completion of voting. Following that the EVMs were sealed. The election commission distributes one copy of the 17C form to every candidate of the constituency.

“Form 17C is crucial for every political party. However, the election commission has not given the same to many of our candidates,” he said.

Earlier, Lalu Prasad Yadav, national president of RJD, has assigned the party workers to be alert and vigilant during the counting of votes. He raised apprehension about the irregularities that may take place during the counting.    

EOM.