The Janata Dal-United has won the Hilsa assembly seat in Bihar just by 12 votes, according to the Election Commission website, a result contested by the rival Rashtriya Janata Dal.
According to the results updated on the Election Commission website late Tuesday night, JD-U's Krishnamurari Sharan alias Prem Mukhiya has polled 61,848 votes, while the RJD's Atri Muni alias Shakti Singh Yadav has got 61,836 votes.
"Results declared," the poll panel wrote in the 'status' column for Hilsa seat late Tuesday night. And in the margin column it wrote "12".
Earlier, around 10 pm, when the poll panel website showed that votes for Hilsa were still being counted, the RJD alleged foul play in the process.
"The Returning Officer had declared RJD candidate Shakti Singh from Hilsa assembly constituency as winner by 547 votes. He was told to wait for issuing the victory certificate. But then the Returning Officer receives a call from the chief minister's residence and the officer suddenly says the RJD candidate has lost by 13 votes due to postal ballots being cancelled," the party alleged in a tweet.
The Election Commission has, however, denied it was under any pressure from anybody.
As per the poll panel data, JD-U's Krishnamurari Sharan has got 232 postal votes and the RJD's Shakti Singh Yadav 233.