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  India   BJP used force to win biennial Rajya Sabha poll: JMM

BJP used force to win biennial Rajya Sabha poll: JMM

AGE CORRESPONDENT
Published : Jul 27, 2016, 3:10 am IST
Updated : Jul 27, 2016, 3:10 am IST

The BJP came under attack from the Opposition Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MPs on Tuesday who accused the ruling party of alleged coercion and threats in the recent biennial polls to the Rajya

The BJP came under attack from the Opposition Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MPs on Tuesday who accused the ruling party of alleged coercion and threats in the recent biennial polls to the Rajya Sabha to get its candidates elected.

The Opposition MPs sought the setting up of a House committee to probe a CD that allegedly contains audio recordings of a senior IPS officer threatening the husband of an Opposition MLA to get her to vote in favour of a candidate of the ruling party.

During zero hour, Sanjiv Kumar (JMM) alleged that two Opposition MLAs were harassed in some old cases while a JMM MLA was arrested in a petty case to prevent him from casting his vote.

He claimed that while other MLAs lodged in jails were allowed to cast their vote, the three Opposition legislators could not, leading to the victory of the ruling party candidate by one vote. The MP alleged that the ruling party used allurements as well as threats to win over Opposition MLAs.

Mr Kumar said a CD has surfaced showing how an additional director general of police coerced and threa-tened the husband of an Opposition MLA. He dema-nded action against the police officer and maintained that a copy of the CD can be made available for the Union home minister.

Intervening in the matter, Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad alleged that it had become a modus operandi under the present dispensation to use threats and coercion and demanded sacking of the officer involved.

He demanded a House Committee to be formed to go into the issue and maintained that such undemocratic acts were unacceptable.

Sharad Yadav (JDU) said irregularities in Rajya Sabha polls was a very serious issue and a probe has to be done. Anand Sharma (Cong) too demanded formation of a House Committee to probe the incident.

However, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi rejected allegations of irregularities and said the government had full confidence in the ability of the Election Commission of India to hold free and fair elections.

Naqvi said the opposition allegations were far removed from facts and action will be initiated as per procedure in case the CD is produced. Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said the government has said it is ready to get the CD examined if it is submitted.

Location: India, Delhi, New Delhi