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Reserve 'special treatment' for Bihar, BJP tells EC

Josy Joseph in New Delhi

The Bharatiya Janata Party has demanded that Bihar be treated as a "special case" and stringent measures be taken to hold free and fair elections in this northern state "held to ransom by the ruling party and its goons."

A three-member BJP delegation, including Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha, called on the Election Commission on Thursday to submit their party's demand to ''cleanse'' the election process in Bihar in the wake of the recovery of a large number of duplicate ballot boxes.

The delegation pointed out that though 1,652 duplicate ballot boxes were recovered recently, none of the FIRs lodged named anyone responsible for the act.

Speaking to newspersons after the meeting, BJP vice president Kailashpati Mishra demanded that a CBI inquiry be instituted into the entire episode. He said the delegation told the EC that printing of ballot papers and their supply to polling booths should be conducted under the strict supervision of the Election Commission.

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