The Congress has taken the issue of what it describes as irregularities in the electoral process in Haryana further to the Election Commission of India (ECI). Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh came out and expressed disbelief at the Haryana election results, claiming they contradicted public sentiment and ground realities.
"The results are totally unexpected and surprising. It is against what the people of Haryana were seeking — a mandate for change and transformation," Ramesh said on Tuesday, questioning the credibility of the poll outcome. He also alleged that authorities were intimidated, leading to unexpected losses in constituencies where Congress had been performing well.
The serious complaint about counting and the functioning of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) has emerged in at least three districts, Ramesh said.
"We have had complaints about EVM malfunctioning in Hisar, Mahendragarh, and Panipat in terms of machine batteries and inconsistent results," he said.
These complaints will be collated and submitted to the ECI in the days ahead. The Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera reiterated the same, terming the election as "a victory for manipulation and defeat for democracy."
"We have received very serious complaints on the process of counting, the functioning of EVMs in at least three districts," he said. We spoke to our senior colleagues in Haryana and information is still being collected. We will present this to the Election Commission. Serious questions have been raised by our candidates. What we have seen today in Haryana is a victory for manipulation, a victory for subverting the will of the people and it is a defeat of the democratic process.
He denounced the process, citing incredulity over the shock results, and informed that Congress candidates have filed complaints already with returning officers in districts.
The Congress is also watching the political trends that are shaping up in Jammu and Kashmir where the National Conference-Congress alliance has come out as a clear winner.
Restoration of statehood will be the top priority for the alliance according to Ramesh. "The chapter on Haryana is still not complete; it will continue. The chapter in Jammu and Kashmir, of course, there will be a coalition government. And as I said till yesterday, various attempts were being made to ensure that the majority will not come to the Congress-NC alliance but the people of Jammu and Kashmir have given a very clear mandate for this coalition government," Jairam Ramesh said. The Congress, the party had complained to the poll body in the morning that the update of poll results data on the ECI website had slowed down.
The ECI had rejected the claims and said that the entire counting process is being done in the presence of observers and micro-observers as per the statutory scheme.
The BJP is set to win at least 48 seats in Haryana and forms the next government in the state for the third time straight based on the latest data released by the Election Commission of India.
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