CHANDIGARH: Two days after Haryana went to the polls, Congress general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad complained to the Election Commission alleging that Haryana minister of state for Cooperatives Manish Grover had intimidated voters in Rohtak.
In his letter to the poll panel, Azad, who is also the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said, "I was completely shocked to hear the set of circumstances enumerated before me by a delegation of the district Congress committee, Rohtak. I have seen the videos shown to me by the delegation, I was completely taken aback by the brazen misuse of muscle power by Manish Grover, Minister of State, Haryana government along with fifty goons and a history-sheeter namely Ramesh Lohar."
Azad went on to say, "They came in ten cars carrying arms, two fake number plates, fifteen cartilages of .32 bore entered into booth numbers 142, 143, 145, 146, 149 and 150 of Rohtak city in 7-Rohtak Parliamentary constituency along with official police commandos in order to sabotage and influence the ongoing polling for the parliamentary elections in Rohtak city."
"Several complaints have been already made to the ECI along with videos bringing
to your kind notice the terror atmosphere created during the ongoing polling on May 12. A complete set of complaints made by the election agent of Deepender Singh Hooda, Congress candidate, along with a USB drive containing the videos of the incident are enclosed for your kind perusal," states the letter.
He further wrote, "In case no action is taken against the Minister of State, it will be a murder of democracy. The exemplary situation requires stringent action by the CEC."
He also wrote that despite brazen misuse of power in order to terrorise the whole
polling process, no action has been taken till date against Grover.