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Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow
The Election Commission on Sunday stayed the counting of votes cast for Uttar Pradesh assembly seat numbers 98 (Kunda) and 99 (Bihar).
The state's chief electoral officer, Noor Mohammed, told rediff.com that the action was taken in response to a report filed by the commission's observers.
Kunda is the constituency ruled -- literally -- by Kunwar Raghuraj Pratap Singh aka Raja Bhaiya. And Bihar, which adjoins Kunda, is part of Raja Bhaiya's territory and has Raja Bhaiya's lackey in the form of Kaushal Saroj as the candidate.
The election observers pointed out in their report that no other political party had been allowed to campaign in the two constituencies, that no other party's flags and banners were displayed, nor were they allowed to have offices.
All this, the observers noted, had hindered the conduct of free and fair elections.
Taking cognisance of this report, in tandem with complaints by all other political parties, Noor Mohammed decided to halt the counting and referred the case to Chief Election Commissioner J M Lyngdoh.
Indications are that the polling in these two constituencies will be countermanded and a repoll ordered. And this time round, the scrutiny will be intense -- probably with an inimical government in place in Lucknow.
And that could put a serious crimp in Raja Bhaiya's idea of 'fair elections'.
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