With the Congress and the Grand Alliance lagging behind in the vote count, the Congress on Friday described the Bihar Assembly elections as a direct contest between Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the people of Bihar.
Speaking to reporters in the national capital, Kheda took a dig at Chief Election Commissioner Kumar and said that he has influence over the public in Bihar.
He said, “These are early trends right now, we are waiting a bit. The early trends are definitely indicating that Gyanesh Kumar is leading over the people of Bihar. I cannot underestimate the people of Bihar. They have shown courage. They have shown courage despite the SIR and vote theft. The contest is straight between the Election Commission of India and the people of Bihar, and let’s see who wins.”
He said, “I am not talking about parties. I am talking about a direct contest between Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the people of Bihar. Now let’s see in the coming hours how effective Gyanesh Kumar will be.”
Khera’s comments came after Congress maintained its lead in only seven seats, according to the Election Commission data at 11:30 am. This represents a disappointing conversion rate of 11.6 percent. In 2020, Congress had won 19 seats.
Meanwhile, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has crossed the mark of 122 seats with a lead of 190 seats. BJP is leading on 82 seats, while JDU is leading on 80 seats. The Grand Alliance is leading on a total of 45 seats, while the RJD is winning on 33 seats.
Earlier today, Congress MP Manickam Tagore also alleged that votes of voters supporting the opposition were removed. He said that democracy cannot survive if the playing field is uneven.
Tagore wrote on
Counting of votes for all 243 constituencies began at 8 am amid tight security. Officials have started counting of postal ballots, while counting of EVM votes will begin at 8:30 am.