EC rejects Congress's allegations over irregularities in Haryana elections, calls them ‘baseless’

Election in Haryana was conducted in a single phase on October 5 and the results were announced three days later

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday rejected allegations levelled by the Congress party regarding irregularities in the recently-concluded Haryana Assembly polls, labelling them as “baseless”.

In a letter to the Congress party, the poll body called on them to refrain from making unsupported claims following every election. The Commission accused the party of raising "generic" doubts without substantive evidence.

“This is least expected of a national political party. The commission appreciates the criticality of the considered views of political parties in sustaining and strengthening electoral democracy in the country and assures that it will remain committed towards timely grievance redressal,” EC said in a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, as per a PTI report.

Election in Haryana was conducted in a single phase on October 5 and the results were announced three days later. In the elections to the 90-member Haryana assembly, the BJP won 48 seats, while the Congress could bag 37.

After the announcement of the results, several Congress leaders including KC Venugopal, Ashok Gehlot, Jairam Ramesh, Ajay Maken, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, as well as other senior party members met with EC officials and presented a list of 20 complaints, including seven written from certain constituencies.

The party raised concerns about discrepancies in the battery levels of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) used in the election. They stated that some machines displayed a 99 per cent battery level, while others ranged from 60-70 per cent on the day of vote counting. The party demanded that these machines be sealed and secured until an investigation could be conducted.

The poll authority said that "once again", it was compelled to note that with "no evidence whatsoever" of any statutory electoral step being compromised, the Congress has "once again raised the smoke of a generic doubt" about the credibility of an entire electoral outcome "exactly in a similar manner as it has done in recent past".

The commission said that such "frivolous and unfounded" doubts have the potential of creating "turbulence" when crucial steps like polling and counting are in live play, a time when both public and political parties' anxiousness is peaking.

(With agencies inputs)