Saturday, May 7 2005 19:53 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Election Commissioner B B Tandon today (May 7, 2005) strongly refuted the charges that attempts were made to countermand the polls in the Chapra Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar last year (2004) and said that all decisions were taken unanimously in the Commission.

"I strongly refute the charges and these are baseless", he said when his comment was sought on the allegations of L V Saptharishi, who was Special Observer in Bihar during the Lok Sabha Polls, to Law Minister H R Bhardwaj.

The Commission would come out with its official statement tomorrow (May 8, 2005) after the return of Chief Election Commissioner T S Krishnamurthy and "There is no difference of opinion among the three Election Commissioners", said Tandon, who is slated to take over as CEC on May 16.

Observing that the Commission's order countermanding the elections in Chapra was "unanimous", he said that it was a judicial order subject to judicial review.

"Any aggrieved party could have challenged it in the Supreme Court", he said.

The Commission's "detailed speaking" order was based not only on the two-member EC team headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Ananthkumar but also on various inputs including complaints, representations and Saptharishi report, Tandon said.