The ruling coalition of the JMM-Congress-RJD in Jharkhand, while rejecting the exit polls, has demanded that the Election Commission make public Form 17C at all counting centres and make arrangements for alternative power systems to prevent electricity disruption and allay fears of EVM manipulations.

JMM central general secretary and spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharya claimed that the exit polls had been done to please “crony capitalists” and were inaccurate.

“The exit polls have been done to please crony capitalists under the influence of a political party. In reality it has shown the exit door to the BJP from 350 seats in Lok Sabha. In Jharkhand the INDIA bloc (JMM-Congress-RJD-CPI—ML) will be winning not less than 8 seats while there are close fights in the remaining six seats,” said Bhattacharya.

Incidentally, in 2019 BJP had won 12 out of the total 14 seats while Congress and JMM had won one seat each. Most of the exit polls by major agencies have claimed NDA sweeping Jharkhand winning between 8-11 seats.

The JMM leader raised questions on the Election Commission’s neutrality during the polls and called for steps to ensure confidence in the counting process.

“We have seen during the elections how the commission worked for a particular party. The commission is yet to make public the final voter turnout for the last phase of polls (June 1). We demand that Form 17C be made available at all the counting centres for the party representatives. In addition, all counting centres should have diesel generator backup systems to prevent power disruption as there is always a chance of EVM manipulation, especially the ballot unit,” claimed Bhattacharya.

Meanwhile, Congress state president Rajesh Thakur has termed the exit polls released by mainstream media as “beyond truth and facts”.

“The big media houses of the country should decide whether they are with the people in a democratic country or with a particular party, the betting market and the capitalists,” said Thakur.

Citing an example, Thakur said, “Question marks are being raised on the authenticity of exit polls as in Jharkhand, under INDIA bloc, the CPIML is contesting elections only on the Koderma seat. But the exit poll is giving them two to three seats. Similarly, in Tamil Nadu, the Congress is contesting elections on only nine seats. But Congress is being shown 13-15 seats.”

Earlier, on Sunday, Loktantra Bachao Abhiyan (a collective of right outfits) in a press conference claimed that Jharkhand has voted for change, but raised serious doubts on ECI’s honesty over people’s mandate.

“As part of the campaign, we went to the people in every corner of the state for the last year and a half, understood the public issues in detail and closely observed the electoral process. It is clear from the campaign’s yatras across the state during the elections that a large section of the people voted against the Modi government, especially in the five tribal constituencies. There is widespread anger against the arrest of former chief minister Hemant Soren (in judicial custody at Ranchi),” the members said.

“The campaign is of the opinion that the INDIA bloc will get at least 7-8 seats in Jharkhand,” they claimed.

“The role of the Election Commission in this election has been extremely reprehensible. Contrary to its impartial role in the past, the Commission acted as an agent of the BJP. The BJP continued to violate the model code of conduct, such as distributing ballot slips with its election symbol and Modi’s photo outside polling booths. Despite repeated complaints, the Commission did not stop this,” the members claimed.

“This was the first time that the Commission significantly delayed the publishing of the final voting figures after each phase. The campaign has demanded from the returning officers of all the Lok Sabhas that they should make booth-wise Form 17C (in which the voting figures are recorded) public before June 4,” the members said.

BJP state spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo ridiculed the opposition for not trusting the exit polls and said, “People of the country are forcing the opposition which does not believe in exit polls to make a political exit this time.”

“The opposition, seeing the defeat, have started questioning the Election Commission and are also making baseless allegations of EVM and DM (district magistrate) hacking,” said Shahdeo.

He claimed that the INDIA bloc will not open its account in the state.