New Delhi: The Election Commission hit back at the Congress for making ‘baseless allegation’ whenever it faced results that were not according to its hopes. The commission’s rebuke came after the Congress’ repeated claims in the last few days over procedural irregularities during the Haryana polls.
Notably, the Congress lost the Assembly elections in the state despite experts believing that the party won and formed government in the state. However, the BJP returned back to power after the elections with a huge majority. Notably, the Congress was leading in several constituencies in the early stage of counting.
EC rejects Congress’ claims
The EC rejected the Congress’ claims of “an unexplained slowdown in updating of (Haryana election) results” on its website on counting day for two hours. The results were announced on October 8. It also asked the Congress, and other political parties, not to make “unfounded and sensational complaints” during polls, including the day when voters cast their votes.
The commission further said that the irresponsible allegations may lead to public unrest, turbulence, and chaos. In its statement, the EC urged the Congress to take “firm and concrete steps and curb this kind of tendency. “Each step in the electoral process in Haryana was flawless and executed under the watch of Congress candidates or agents,” the EC pointed out.
EC releases document
The document by the EC rebutted each of Congress’ complaints, right from the demand for clarification counting unit (CU)’s battery status of the EVM to the “deliberate slowdown in the speed of counting and uploading of data” on the website of the Election Commission.
Talking about concerns related to the battery EC said, “Battery status displayed on CU serves only to assist technical teams in monitoring power levels… to ensure smooth operation during polling.” It also dismissed as “preposterous” Congress’ allegations that battery levels could influence voting outcomes.
