NEW DELHI: A day after the drubbing in the Haryana assembly polls, a Congress delegation met the Election Commission on Wednesday and submitted complaints citing “serious discrepancies” with the counting process and the functioning of the EVMs.
The party urged the EC to take urgent measures and order an inquiry into the “discrepancies”. The delegation included senior party leaders K C Venugopal, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupinder Hooda, Ajay Maken, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Jairam Ramesh.
The memorandum said some candidates had noticed that on EVMs that had 99% battery charge, the BJP won, while on those with 60-70%, the Congress won. “During counting of votes for Haryana assembly elections, a glaring discrepancy was discovered by Congress candidates and their polling agents. This discrepancy related to the battery charge/health/capacity of the EVM machines being used during the counting of votes,” it said
“Some EVMs used for counting were operating at 99% battery capacity, while other EVMs were operating at 60-70% battery capacity. In fact, in some cases, this discrepancy was discovered in EVMs used in the same polling station. Immediately upon discovery, the INC candidates raised this issue before the concerned returning Officers, however in majority of the places, there was no response received in this regard,” the memorandum said.
“We request that the Commission take urgent measures and order for an enquiry on this issue.” In his first response on the party’s dismal performance, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the party was analysing the “unexpected” result in the state. Ahead of Congress delegation’s meeting with the EC, the poll body wrote to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge on the allegations raised by them.
“I am directed to refer to the widely reported statement made by Jairam Ramesh, MP and Pawan Khera on 8th October, which seemingly made an assertion, in the context of the Legislative Assembly, that election results are unacceptable,” wrote a panel official.
‘Analysing results’
In his first response on the party’s dismal performance, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the party was analysing “unexpected” result. The poll body wrote to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge on the allegations