Patna High Court's directive to the Election Commission to take firm measures to conduct free and fair poll in Bihar must have come as a big relief to Defence Minister George Fernandes whose allegations about printing of excess ballot papers for his Nalanda and party colleague Railway Minister Nitish Kumar's Barh constituency had been rejected by the commission as "baseless".

George's position had become so awkward after the dismissal of his charges by the EC that he even challenged the commission to take action against him for electoral malpractices if it deemed it fit.

Not only had the EC not given credence to his allegations, George was further embarassed as the Union Home Secretary had denied that intelligence bureau had furnished any information about excess or fake ballot papers to the minister as claimed by him.

George who first entered Lok Sabha in 1967 from Mumbai, then Bombay, by defeating the Congress strongman S K Patil, has subsequently chosen to represent Bihar in the house. He has also been a member from Muzaffarpur in the state.

It is an irony that George and Rashtriya Janata Dal Chief Laloo Prasad Yadav, who both have been comrades in the J P movement, have turned foes and George entertains the apprehension that Laloo and the Bihar Government, headed by his wife Rabri, would not leave any stone unturned to block his entry to the house.

With George and Nitish excercising their clout in the Union Cabinet to get Rabri government dismissed, Laloo is only expected to make things worse for George and Nitish.