Cong holds review meeting on Haryana; will form fact-finding committee over 'unexpected results'

The committee will speak with the party’s candidates and leaders to detail the reasons for the “unexpected results.”

The Congress will form a fact-finding committee to investigate the shock loss in the Haryana Assembly polls, sources said on Thursday after the party’s top brass, led by AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge, held a review meeting to deliberate on the "unexpected" results.

The Congress president, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretary organization K C Venugopal, AICC senior observers for the polls Ashok Gehlot and Ajay Maken, as well as AICC secretaries for the state, participated in the review meeting at Kharge’s residence at 10, Rajaji Marg. AICC in-charge of the state Deepak Babaria joined the meeting online.

“We held a review meeting on Haryana election results. As you all know, the exit polls and opinion polls had shown results that were unexpected. There was a significant difference between the exit polls and the actual results. We discussed what could be the reasons for that. We will take appropriate steps going forward,” Maken told reporters after the meeting.

When asked if infighting had hurt the Congress’ chances in the polls, Maken said, “There are various reasons, from the Election Commission to internal differences. We have discussed all that and will do so in the future as well because such a big upset…we cannot discuss everything in one or one-and-a-half hours.”

A source present at the meeting indicated that a fact-finding committee would be announced soon, as is the convention in the party to analyze the results. The committee will speak with the party’s candidates and leaders to detail the reasons for the “unexpected results.” It will also investigate the complaints from various constituencies and compile them comprehensively.

Sources noted that Gandhi, who broke his silence on the results on Wednesday, is keen on an in-depth analysis of the “unexpected” results and wants accountability for the shock loss to be established.

The meeting follows the Congress's demand for a thorough probe into “discrepancies” found in some Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during the counting of votes in the Haryana assembly polls. The party has called for such EVMs to be sealed and secured pending inquiry. A delegation of top Congress leaders, including former chief ministers Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Ashok Gehlot, AICC leaders Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Ajay Maken, and Pawan Khera, as well as Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan, met with top Election Commission officials on Wednesday. The delegation handed over a memorandum to the officials along with specific complaints from various constituencies in Haryana. Senior party leader Abhishek Singhvi joined the meeting online.

The Congress leaders alleged that there are at least 20 such complaints, including seven in writing from as many assembly constituencies, many of which referred to EVMs functioning at 99 percent battery capacity, while the average EVMs were found to operate at 60 to 70 percent battery capacity during the counting.

Infighting, over-reliance on sitting MLAs, and rebel trouble appeared to be some contributing factors for the Congress’ failure to make a comeback in Haryana after a decade. The party seemed confident of dislodging the BJP, which has been in power for 10 years and was facing anti-incumbency. However, the BJP, with 48 seats, halted the Congress’ comeback attempt and disproved several exit polls predicting a comfortable win for the grand old party in Haryana. The Congress managed to secure only 37 seats in the 90-member assembly.