Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 9: The Congress on Wednesday registered a strong complaint and demanded a thorough probe into the alleged “discrepancies” found in some Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during the counting of votes of the Haryana Assembly elections.
The party also demanded that the EVMs under question should be sealed and secured pending the inquiry.
After the party’s huge setback in the Haryana election, the leaders of the Congress met the Election Commission this evening and registered a strong complaint, alleging that the some of the EVMs have been hacked. Party spokesman Pawan Khera said the hacking took place across 20 seats, for seven of which they have submitted documentary evidence. The papers for the other 13 will be submitted within 48 hours, he said.
‘We have requested that all the machines be sealed and secured till investigations are completed,” Mr Khera told reporters. The party, he said, has submitted evidence of hacking at Karnal, Dabwali, Rewari, Panipat City, Hodal, Kalka and Narnaul.
The delegation comprising former Chief Ministers Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Ashok Gehlot and AICC leaders K.C. Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Ajay Maken and Pawan Khera, besides Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan, handed over a memorandum to the officials along with specific complaints from various constituencies in Haryana. Senior party leader Abhishek Singhvi joined the meeting online.
The Congress leaders alleged that there are at least 20 such complaints, including seven in writing, from as many Assembly constituencies, with many referring to EVMs functioning at 99% battery capacity whereas the average EVMs were found to be operating at 60% to 70% battery capacity during counting.
The party has alleged “glaring discrepancies” related to some EVMs in the Haryana polls and urged the EC to conduct a probe.
“There are doubts about vote counting as Haryana results are surprising. Everyone believed that the Congress would be forming the next government in Haryana. When the counting of postal ballots took place, the Congress was winning, but when the counting of EVMs started, the opposite happened,” Mr Hooda told reporters after the meeting.
He said the Congress would submit more complaints to the EC in the next few days. “The EC has assured us of looking into the matter,” Mr Hooda said after meeting the CEC and other Election Commissioners. Mr Bhan also said that doubts have been created about the veracity of the counting exercise in Haryana and they should be cleared by the EC.
Mr Khera said party leaders Mr Maken and Mr Singhvi have urged the EC to conduct a thorough probe, pending which it should ensure that the EVMs with discrepancies are sealed and secured till then. “Maken and Singhvi have demanded that the EVMs for which complaints have been made be sealed and secured till the inquiry into the whole matter is completed. We also told the EC that in the next 48 hours, we will make available to them other complaints that are being compiled.
“Counting of votes in a fair, transparent and accountable manner is the hallmark of any electoral process that claims to be in consonance with the principles of free and fair elections and the doctrine of the level-playing field as envisaged by the Constitution,” the party memorandum to the EC said.
“Considering that the said issue could potentially alter the results for some Assembly constituencies, we request that this Hon’ble Commission take urgent measures and order for an enquiry on this issue. In fact, subject to the enquiry report, the Hon’ble Commission should issue requisite directions regarding the counting of polls and final results,” it also said.
The Election Commission earlier had denied any EVM discrepancy. In a letter to Congress chief President Mallikarjun Kharge, the Election Commission referred to the “results are not acceptable” remarks of Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera.
“Such an unprecedented statement as above in a generic sense, unheard in the rich democratic heritage of the country, is far from a legitimate part of free speech and expression and moves towards an undemocratic rejection of the will of the people expressed in accordance with the Statutory and Regulatory electoral framework, uniformly applied across all elections in the country including J-K and Haryana,” the letter read.
The Commission said it has noted the statements of Mr Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, terming the Haryana results as “unexpected” and that the party proposes to analyse the same and approach the EC with its complaints.
The EC said it has received a request seeking a meeting time for a 12-member official INC delegation, including those who made the “results unacceptable” statement. “Proceeding on a fair assumption that the statement of the party president is the formal party position on the electoral outcome, the ECI has agreed to meet the delegation today at 6 PM …,” the letter to Mr Kharge said.