The Election Commission of India on Wednesday (October 9, 2024) said statements made by certain Congress leaders that the Haryana Assembly election results were unacceptable was “unprecedented” and “unheard in the rich democratic heritage” of the country. The poll body though met a delegation of Congress leaders who alleged “glaring” discrepancies related to EVMs during counting.
In a scathing letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, the EC said the time to meet the delegation had been given presuming that his position that the Haryana results were “unexpected” was the official position, as against that of some leaders who have said that the “results are not acceptable”.
At a party briefing on Tuesday (October 8, 2024), Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh had said: “The results in Haryana are totally unexpected, completely surprising and counter-intuitive. It goes against ground reality. It goes against what the people of Haryana had made their minds up for, which was for change and transformation. I think under these circumstances, it is not possible for us to accept the results that have been announced today”.
In its letter to Mr. Kharge on Wednesday (October 9, 2024), the EC said such remarks by party leaders Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera move towards “an undemocratic rejection of the will of the people” expressed in accordance with the statutory and regulatory electoral framework.
It also noted the statements of Mr. Kharge and the Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi who have said that the Haryana results were “unexpected” and that the party proposes to analyse the same and approach the EC with its complaints.
“Proceeding on a fair assumption that the statement of the party president is the formal party position on the electoral outcome, the EC has agreed to meet the delegation today at 6 p..m. ...,” the letter to Mr. Kharge said.
The 12-member delegation which met the EC later in the day included senior Congress leaders K.C. Venugopal, Pawan Khera, Jairam Ramesh, former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda.
“During the counting of votes for Haryana Assembly elections, a glaring discrepancy was discovered by the Congress candidates and their respective polling agents. This discrepancy related to the battery charge/health/capacity of the EVM machines being used during the counting of votes,” the memorandum submitted to the poll body by the Congress party said.
It further said that as per the Congress candidates, some EVMs used for counting were operating at 99% battery capacity, while other EVMs were operating at 60-70% battery capacity. “In fact, in some cases, this discrepancy was discovered in EVMs used in the same polling station. Immediately upon discovery, the Congress candidates raised this issue before the Returning Officers concerned. However, in majority of the places, there was no response received in this regard”.
Speaking to the media after the meeting with the EC, Mr. Khera said that the delegation intimated the commission regarding complaints from seven constituencies and has demanded that all machines should be sealed and secured pending investigation. Some of the constituencies were Karnal, Dabwali and Narnaul.
“We will inform them of the rest of the complaints over the next 48 hours and after that all those machines should be secured till the probe is completed”, he said adding that the EC has assured that it would issue a written response to all the complaints.
Mr. Hooda said: “There are doubts on vote counting as Haryana results are surprising, all believed Congress would be forming the next government. When postal ballots were being counted, Congress was winning, but when EVMs were counted the Congress lost”.
Haryana Congress chief Uday Bhan said the way some EVMs had 99% charge at the end of the counting day raised apprehensions of them being hacked.
Published - October 09, 2024 07:56 pm IST
