Congress’s allegations on Haryana elections baseless, poll process was correct: ECI
#News Bureau October 29,2024
The Election Commission has rejected Congress’ allegations of irregularities in Haryana elections. It has said that the allegations leveled by Congress regarding EVMs and the election process were baseless. The Election Commission has strongly criticized the Congress for making such allegations during the election process and especially during the counting.
This response of the Election Commission has come in the case in which the Congress had expressed apprehension of tampering on the counting day i.e. 8 October in the Haryana Assembly elections. Pawan Khera had said, ‘Continuous complaints are coming from Hisar, Mahendragarh and Panipat districts that the battery of EVMs here was 99%. In these places, the results came that defeated the Congress. At the same time, we won in those machines which were not tampered with and whose battery was 60%-70%.’ The party had expressed apprehension of possible tampering with the machines and accused the officials of deliberately delaying the counting process.
Then the Congress refused to accept its defeat alleging irregularities in the counting of votes. It had said that the election results in Haryana are unexpected and shocking and the Congress cannot accept them.
A delegation of senior Congress leaders including KC Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Kheda and Ajay Maken reached the Election Commission office on October 9. This happened after many Congress leaders expressed doubts over the counting process in many constituencies. Then Congress leader Pawan Kheda had said that the party has demanded the Election Commission to seal the voting machines against which they have lodged a complaint.
Let us tell you that defying the exit polls and the anti-incumbency wave of 10 years, the BJP won for the third consecutive time over the Congress in Haryana. The BJP won 48 seats in the 90-member assembly, while the Congress got 37 seats. Three independents and two Indian National Lok Dal candidates also emerged victorious.
The Election Commission has asked people to refrain from making baseless and sensational complaints at crucial times like polling and counting. It has warned that such actions can lead to unnecessary public unrest and disrupt social order.
In a letter to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, the Election Commission said, “The Election Commission categorically rejects all baseless allegations and apprehensions leveled by the Congress regarding all aspects of the electoral process in the recently concluded election to the Haryana Legislative Assembly.” It said, “This is least expected from a national political party. The Commission appreciates the need for considered views of political parties in maintaining and strengthening electoral democracy in the country and assures that it will remain committed to timely grievance redressal.”
In addition, the Election Commission also criticized the Congress for repeatedly questioning the election results. The ECI called on the party to take concrete steps to avoid the trend of making such complaints, pointing out that such allegations can undermine the credibility of the electoral process.