Patna :  The ruling Janata Dal (United) in Bihar on Friday wrote to the Election Commission seeking cancellation of nominations of RJD candidates in case they were issued tickets with Lalu Prasads signature, without the jailed leader taking permission from the court for the same.

JD(U) MLC and spokesman Neeraj Kumar shot off a letter to this effect to the Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar and sought to know whether Prasad, who was serving sentences in a number of fodder scam cases and currently recuperating in a Ranchi hospital, had sought the courts permission to sign the tickets granted to party candidates for their respective seats.

“If not, these deserve to be cancelled,” Kumar said.

The RJD has fielded altogether 19 candidates in Bihar, leaving 20 for alliance partners in the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ and one for the CPI(ML) which has returned the favour by refraining from throwing its hat in the ring in Pataliputra from where Prasads eldest daughter Misa Bharti has been declared the party candidate.

The JD(U) leader also alleged that Prasad has been guilty of “flagrant violation of the jail manual” as he has been meeting political persons at Ranchi even though there is a bar on those serving sentences from engaging in political negotiations.

He asked the election authorities to take cognizance of Prasads tweets which keep coming up frequently despite his being in jail and urged the poll panel to inquire how the RJD supremo was able to remain in touch with those operating his twitter handle.

“He has been convicted for a crime. He is not a political prisoner who is in jail for participation in a peoples movement. He is trying to influence elections through his activities which is a violation of the model code of conduct,” the JD(U) leader alleged.

Reacting to the JD(U) spokesmans letter, which was circulated on the social media, RJD national vice-president Shivanand Tiwary termed it as a ‘vidhva vilaap’ (whining of widow) by the ruling party which “fears that it may not be able to open its account in the polls.”

“Two phases of elections are over and the JD(U) has suddenly realized the issue of Lalus signatures now. JD(U) has fought six of the nine seats where voting has been held and it fears that it may end up losing all of these,” Tiwary said in a statement.

Tiwary has previously been with the JD(U), which is headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

PTI

 19/4/2019