Patna, Nov. 24: Lovely Anand of the Hindustani Awam Morcha Secular, who lost to Sharfuddin of the JDU by 461 votes in Sheohar, will approach court to seek recounting of votes in her constituency.

Lovely, wife of jailed strongman and former MP Anand Mohan Singh, joined former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's HAMS party ahead of Assembly elections this year and contested from Sheohar. At a press conference on Tuesday, she said: "There was large-scale rigging by government officials deputed at polling booths in Sheohar on polling day (November 1). They acted in support of the JDU candidate."

She said there were around 2,200 voters at Bairiya booth in her constituency, but on polling day the Sashastra Seema Bal rained canes on women and elderly people who were protesting against rigging by the JDU candidate. As a result, many people did not come out to vote. She also alleged that in Sheohar, polling had taken place for an hour less than in other Maoist areas.

Election Commission guidelines say polling should take place till 4pm in Maoist areas, but in Sheohar polling took place till 3pm, she said. Lovely is the first NDA candidate who has threatened to approach court to demand recounting. No NDA or HAMS leader accompanied her to the press conference. Days before the fourth phase of polling, which covered Sheohar, Lovely's husband Anand Mohan - sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment for killing then Gopalganj district magistrate G. Krishnaiah in 1994 - was shifted from Saharsa to Beur Jail. This followed complaints that he was trying to influence voters in Sheohar and other constituencies.

Lovely has been elected to the Assembly twice, from Sheohar in 1996 and and Barh in 2005. She was also elected to Lok Sabha from Vaishali in a bypoll in 1994. Her son Chetan Anand had helped her during the campaign.

Lovely said she found nohting wrong in RJD chief Lalu Prasad's son Tejaswi becoming deputy chief minister. She said: "There is nothing wrong in Tejaswi becoming deputy chief minister and Tej Pratap becoming minister, as youngsters should be given a chance." This is the first time any NDA leader has welcomed Tejaswi becoming deputy chief minister of the state.

The HAMS leader also said the main reason behind NDA's poor show in the Bihar Assembly elections was the feel-good notion of several NDA candidates. Many NDA leaders were under the impression that they can win elections on the basis of the Narendra Modi magic, Lovely said.