Barely three days before Congress MP Rahul Gandhi alleged large-scale vote fraud in Haryana and claimed that a coordinated "theft" of 25 lakh votes resulted in the party's unexpected defeat in the Assembly elections held last year, a senior Congress leader provided a detailed account to party president Mallikarjun Kharge to the contrary.
In his resignation letter addressed to Kharge dated November 2, six-time MLA and former minister Sampat Singh claimed that senior Congress leaders in Haryana had “sabotaged” promising candidates and allowed factional interests to override the party's electoral strategy, eventually resulting in the party's defeat in the Haryana Assembly elections.
Categorically blaming the leadership for turning the party's state unit into a "family fiefdom", Singh accused the high command of ignoring loyal senior workers and sanctioning ticket sales to favourites.
"Close aides of state leadership, fielded as Independents to ensure defeat of Congress candidates, altered narratives in multiple constituencies. Capable candidates were ignored, and those with money and power were given tickets," Singh said in his resignation letter emailed to Kharge, terming the actions as "ticket chori" and "vote chori" by the party's state leadership in the 2024 Assembly elections.
The 2024 Assembly elections, Singh said in his letter, should serve as a case study for the Congress. "Despite every survey, media outlet, and informal assessment predicting a Congress victory, the party suffered defeat, a result that came as no surprise to those aware of the persistent decay within the organisation. Since 2009, the party has ignored every warning sign as its fortunes steadily declined," he said.
"The state leadership consolidated its personal political power. In 2020, when a Rajya Sabha seat fell vacant, instead of promoting a deserving member from the Scheduled or Backward Castes, the leader’s own son (Deepender Singh Hooda) was nominated, turning a national party into a regional family enterprise. Even Randeep Singh Surjewala, a four-term MLA and INC General Secretary, had to be nominated from Rajasthan due to factionalism. Later, Ajay Maken, Congress treasurer, lost the Rajya Sabha election from Haryana, another reflection of the leadership crisis," Singh further alleged.
Raising questions over the recent appointments of Hooda as the Leader of the Opposition and Rao Narender Singh as the state Congress president, Singh wrote, "After the 2024 election defeat, Rahul Gandhi himself acknowledged that the state leadership had prioritised personal interests over the party. Yet, once again, the same leadership was retained."
At his press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday, Rahul claimed that 25 lakh votes were stolen in Haryana, which has a total of 2 crore voters. "This means one in eight voters in Haryana are fake, 12.5 per cent," he said.
"I am questioning the Election Commission and the democratic process in India, and I am doing this with 100 per cent proof. We are sure that a plan was put in motion to convert Congress's landslide victory into a loss," he alleged.
Rahul further claimed that a similar plan was underway in Bihar where voting for the first phase is scheduled to be held on November 6.
The Election Commission of India has rejected the allegations questioning why the party’s own polling agents failed to raise objections during the voting process. "If someone allegedly voted more than 200 times in two booths, why was no objection raised by the polling agent of the Congress?" News18 cited EC sources as saying, adding that such issues should have been flagged immediately at the polling stations rather than after the results.
BJP leader and Union minister Kiren Rijiju also questioned Rahul's allegations and termed it as confirmation that the Mahagathbandhan was certain of defeat in Bihar.
"If Congress does not feel the Election Commission will do justice, it can go to the courts. But it does not trust the system and keeps blaming EVMs and the Election Commission for its failures," he said.
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