Senior Congress chief Jairam Ramesh stated victory had been “snatched” from the social gathering.
New Delhi:
The election ends in Haryana are sudden and surprising and the Congress can not settle for them, the social gathering stated on Tuesday, hours after early leads in its favour became a complete victory for the BJP.
Earlier within the day, the Congress had written a letter to the Election Fee, complaining of an “unexplained slowdown” in updating outcomes for the Haryana election.
“As you’ll be able to think about, this permits bad-faith actors to spin narratives that undermine the method. You’ll be able to see examples of it already enjoying out on social media. Our worry can also be that such narratives can then be utilized by these mala fide actors to affect processes the place counting continues to be underway i.e. in many of the counting centres,” senior Congress chief Jairam Ramesh wrote.
The Election Fee dismissed the costs and stated roughly 25 rounds throughout all constituencies had been being up to date each 5 minutes.
In its response, the ballot physique additionally stated it “unequivocally rejects your (Mr Ramesh’s) try and surreptitiously give credence to irresponsible, unfounded and uncorroborated malafide narratives”.
Addressing a press convention round 5 pm, Mr Ramesh stated, “The ends in Haryana are completely sudden, utterly shocking and counter-intuitive. It goes in opposition to the truth. It goes in opposition to what the individuals in Haryana had made their thoughts up for, which was for change and transformation. Below these circumstances, it’s not doable for us to just accept the outcomes which were introduced as we speak. What now we have seen as we speak in Haryana is a victory for manipulation, a victory for subverting the desire of the individuals and it’s a defeat for clear, democratic processes. The chapter on Haryana isn’t full.”
“All afternoon, I’ve been in contact with the Election Fee. They’ve replied to my complaints, I’ve replied to their reply. Now we have obtained very critical complaints in regards to the strategy of counting and the functioning of digital voting machines (EVMs) in no less than three districts in Haryana. There are extra which might be coming in. This data is being collected and we hope to current this to the Election Fee as we speak or the day after,” he added.
‘Victory Snatched’
Answering questions on whether or not the social gathering wanted to introspect provided that 16 sitting MLAs had misplaced in Haryana and the elections in Jammu and Kashmir had been gained solely in an alliance with the Nationwide Convention, Mr Ramesh stated the time for that may come, however added, “Crucial factor now could be that victory has been snatched for us. The system has been misused.”
The Congress chief stated, based mostly on preliminary studies, there are no less than 12-14 seats in Haryana, the place critical questions have been raised by candidates, calling into query the integrity of the counting course of and the functioning of the EVMs. On whether or not the social gathering would take authorized recourse, Mr Ramesh stated the Election Fee is its first cease and it might take a name on what else must be completed after that.
“There are critical questions on the integrity of the devices of this method, particularly EVMs, and the extraordinary strain that has been delivered to bear on native administration officers. Haryana has been a ‘double-engine’ authorities, so it was a ‘double-engine’ strain. Individuals who had been main with wholesome margins have misplaced by 50, 100, 250 votes. This may be defined solely by manipulation and strain,” he fumed.
‘Battery Points’
Senior Congress chief Pawan Khera, who additionally addressed the press convention, stated the social gathering has obtained fixed complaints from the Hisar, Mahendragarh and Panipat districts and cited the instance of Narnaul candidate Rao Narender Singh.
“EVMs whose batteries had been at 99% had outcomes which went in opposition to us and those who weren’t touched and had batteries at 60-70%, which is pure, had our candidates profitable. Our candidates have additionally submitted complaints to the returning officers. We are going to strategy the Election Fee quickly… ‘Ye tantra ki jeet hai, loktantra ki haar hai’ (this can be a victory for the system and a defeat for democracy,” he claimed.
“We have not stated all of the machines are faulty. We have not even stated all machines in Haryana are faulty. However the place there was manipulation… You inform me: these machines have been mendacity for therefore lengthy, how can all of them have normal 99% battery? It is not just like the complaints began within the afternoon, they had been made even earlier than a outcome got here. Rao Narender Singh and our Panipat candidate had began calling us even when the leads had been in our favour,” Mr Khera added.
BJP’s Take
After the exit polls had predicted a snug victory for the Congress, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini had stated that the BJP would kind a authorities within the state for the third straight time and predicted that the Congress would blame EVMs.
“Aanth tareekh ko janata degi jawab, aur yeh kahenge EVM hai kharab (Folks may have their say on October 8, they usually [the Congress] will blame the EVMs),” Mr Saini had stated.