“Electoral Process In Haryana Was Flawless”: Poll Body Hits Back At Congress

New Delhi:

The Election Commission on Tuesday criticised the Congress for making “baseless allegations… when faced with inconvenient electoral outcomes”. The sharp rebuke comes after the Congress’ repeated claims – between October 8 and 10 and again on October 14 – about procedural irregularities during the Haryana election that it lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party, despite racing into a big early lead.

In a fierce statement the EC rejected the Congress’ claims – specifically “an unexplained slowdown in updating of (Haryana election) results” on its website on counting day – October 8 – for two hours.

The EC cautioned the Congress, and other political parties, against making “unfounded and sensational complaints” during an election, including when votes are cast and then counted.

“Irresponsible…”: EC Slams Congress

“Irresponsible allegations can lead to public unrest, turbulence, and chaos,” the EC said, and urged the Congress to take “firm and concrete steps and curb (this) tendency of frivolous complaints”.

“Each step in the electoral process in Haryana was flawless and executed under the watch of Congress candidates or agents,” the EC pointed out in a formal response running into 1,600 pages.

The document contained point-by-point rebuttals to each of the Congress’ complaints, from a demand for clarification on the battery status of the counting unit (CU) of the electronic voting machines (EVM) to the “deliberate slowdown in the speed of counting and uploading of data” on the EC website.

On concerns about the battery, the EC said the display of voltage and capacity is “irrelevant to the EVM’ s vote-counting functionality and integrity”. “Battery status displayed on CU serves only to assist technical teams in monitoring power levels… to ensure smooth operation during polling,” the EC said.

The battery levels could influence voting outcomes was dismissed as “preposterous”.

The EC said it had forwarded all of the Congress’ complaints to the ROs, or Returning Officers, and that each official had submitted reports that confirmed a cleanly-conducted election. It also noted the complaints were “too general… as if candidates filed these under some ‘common’ direction”.

Haryana’s Chief Electoral Officer had also rejected the Congress’ claims.

Haryana Election: What Happened?

On October 8 – when it became clear the Congress’ early lead had slipped away and the BJP was set for a storming comeback win – the party filed a complaint against “bad faith actors”.

The Congress red-flagged concerns that incorrect, or delayed, trends for some seats “can then be used by these mala fide (bad faith) actors to influence processes where counting is still underway…”

The EC had then hit back immediately and dismissed the Congress’ “ill-founded” concerns.

READ | “Reject Your Attempt To…”: Poll Body On Congress’ Haryana Claim

The poll panel said it “unequivocally rejects your attempt to surreptitiously give credence to irresponsible, unfounded and uncorroborated mala fide narratives”.

A day later the EC again criticised the Congress.

READ | “Can’t Accept Verdict”: Congress’ Doubts Over Haryana Counting

This was after the party, in an unprecedented move, said it could not accept the verdict of the Haryana Assembly election. Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said, “The Haryana results are unexpected, surprising and counter-intuitive… it is not possible for us to accept the results.”

READ | “Unheard In Democratic System”: EC On Congress’ Haryana Remark

The EC said the Congress’ statement on the verdict was “unheard (of) in the rich democratic heritage” of the country and far from a legitimate part of free speech.

The BJP retained control of Haryana after winning 48 of the state’s 90 Assembly seats. The Congress won 37, with the five remaining divided between the Indian National Lok Dal and independents.

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