New Delhi [India], October 8 (ANI): The Election Commission on Tuesday termed as “ill-founded” Congress allegation of slowdown in updating results of assembly polls in Haryana and said it rejects the attempt “to surreptitiously give credence to irresponsible, unfounded and uncorroborated malafide narratives”.
The Election Commission responded to a memorandum by Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh in which the party complained about “unexplained slowdown” in updating of results of Haryana assembly polls on its website.
The BJP is set to form its third successive government in Haryana as it won 48 seats in the 90-member assembly as per the results announced on Tuesday. The Congress is poised to win 37 seats.
In its reply to Jairam Ramesh’s letter, the poll panel said that a somewhat similar concern was raised by Congress in regard to the Lok Sabha elections on June 4 which was “ill-founded and dismissed by the Commission”
The poll panel said it had categorically responded that counting of votes is being carried out as per Rule 60 of Conduct of Election Rules at the designated counting centres and by the designated authorities following the Statutory and Regulatory regime.
“With reference to your today’s Memorandum regarding slowdown in updating of the results of Haryana on the ECI Website, it is reiterated that the entire counting process in Haryana and J-K is unfolding in the presence of candidates, observers and micro-observers as per the Statutory scheme,” the poll panel said in its reply.
“There is nothing on record to substantiate your ill-founded allegation of slowdown in updating of results. Your Memorandum also does not bring out any contrary facts as to the delay at any of the constituencies in Haryana or J-K. As can be gleaned from the publicly available data on the results website of the ECI, speed of the round-wise updation by Returning Officers would allay all your fears,” it added.
The poll panel also shared a table about updating trends from different constituencies and said approximately 25 rounds across all the constituencies are being updated every five minutes, “which testifies dissemination of counting process in a speedy manner”.
“In view of the above, the Commission unequivocally rejects your attempt to surreptitiously give credence to irresponsible, unfounded and uncorroborated malafide narratives,” the reply said.
Earlier in the day, the trends showed that BJP was ahead by a margin of 15 seats in Haryana and Congress leaders insisted that the party will see a surge in the last rounds of counting. They alleged that the Election Commission was not updating its website on real-time basis.
Jairam Ramesh had asked if the BJP governments were trying to build pressure on the local administration in Haryana districts.
“We are filing a memorandum, we are lodging a complaint. We hope that the EC will answer our questions. The results of 10-11 rounds are already out but only four to five rounds have been updated on EC website. This is a tactic to pressure the Administration,” Jairam Ramesh told ANI.
“There is no need to be disheartened. The game is not over. Mind games are being played. We will not deter, there is no need to be disheartened. We are going to get the mandate. Congress is going to form the government,” he added.
He also complained of “unexplained slowdown” in a post on X.
“Like the Lok Sabha elections, in Haryana we are again witnessing a slowing down of uploading up-to- date trends on the ECI website. Is the BJP trying to build pressure on administration by sharing outdated and misleading trends.”
In his letter Jairam Ramesh sought immediate directions to officials to update the website with “true and accurate figures”.
“Over the last two hours between 9-11 am, there has been an unexplained slowdown in updating of results on the ECI’s website. As you can imagine this allows bad faith actors to spin narratives that undermine the process. You can see examples of it already playing out on social media. Our fear is also that such narratives can then be used by these mala fide actors to influence processes where counting is still underway i.e. in most of the counting centres,” he said in the letter.
“We request you to issue immediate directions to your officials to update the website with true and accurate figures so that false news and malicious narratives can be countered immediately,” he letter added.
Following EC’s reply to his letter, Jairam Ramesh shot off another letter, saying the poll panel’s “reply was completely hostile in nature” and “inappropriate words” had been used.
Ramesh said Congress is “appalled at the defensive tone and tenor taken in the letter”.
“Not only is the reply completely hostile in nature, it degrades the conversational level to an unacceptable low, which itself is surprising for a body supposed to be neutral and impartial and it misrepresents crucial facts in a vein similar to that done by the ruling party,” the letter said.
Ramesh said ECI acts as if Congress is “spreading a malicious narrative”.
“First, it is an undeniable fact, and one that can be established with the ECI’s own data, that at the time of the representation for several seats the pages were displaying rounds at 3/4. This was an observation made independently by numerous individuals both on television and on social media. Yet the ECI acts as if it is the INC spreading a malicious narrative,” he said.
“Second, we have documented all our complaints to the ECI, and have catalogued the ECI’s action on them. When we make complaints, we do so on the basis of credible information received or data. We annex several documents to support our claims and in the hearings granted present those for scrutiny. The ECI’s own published data attests that they have acted on the bulk of our complaints thereby implying that we were not unreasonable or unfair in our prayers to the ECI,” he added.
Ramesh said the Chief Election Commissioner should take a call if he stands “by such inappropriate words” used in EC’s reply.
“By the warped logic of this reply, no complaint can ever be raised before the ECI lest the ECI turn its hostile fury and name and shame the complainant. The ECI makes a reference to a previous complaint to try and diminish the current concern. Not only is this misguided but the ECI does not cover itself in glory when it takes such a line. For the sake of the ECI’s reputation, we will leave it at that,” the letter said.
“The CEC must take a call if he stands by such inappropriate words. For the sake of neutrality and a level playing field, which I may remind you is your constitutional duty, we hope that such a reply to any political party, and especially the principal opposition party in Parliament, is not repeated,” he added.
Addressing a press conference at the party office later, Jairam Ramesh and Congress leader Pawan Khera rejected assembly results in Haryana, saying the outcome is “totally unexpected, completely surprising, counter-intuitive and against ground-reality and that “it is not possible for the party “to accept the results”.
They said the Congress central leadership has received “very serious complaints” on the process of counting and they will move the Election Commission.
Jairam Ramesh said “what we have seen today in Haryana is a victory for manipulation, a victory for subverting the will of the people and it is a defeat for transparent democratic processes”
“The results in Haryana are totally unexpected, completely surprising and counter-intuitive. It goes against ground reality. It goes against what the people of Haryana had made their minds up for, which was for change and transformation. I think under these circumstances, it is not possible for us to accept the results that have been announced today,” he said. .
“We have received very serious complaints on the process of counting, the functioning of EVMs in at least three districts. There are more that are coming in. We have spoken to our senior colleagues in Haryana and this information is being collected. We hope to present this in a consolidated form to the Election Commission tomorrow or the day after. We will seek time…Serious questions have been raised by our candidates. We will bring it to the notice of the Election Commission,” he added.
Pawan Khera said they are surprised and no one can believe that such an unexpected result will come in Haryana. He said the party cannot accept such an outcome.
“If it is said in one line, this is the victory of the system and the defeat of democracy. We cannot accept this…We are collecting complaints. Our candidates have given complaints to the returning officers there and are still giving them. In the coming days, we will soon go to the Election Commission with all these complaints and register our complaint there. This kind of result was not visible anywhere on the ground. No one can believe that such an unexpected result will come in Haryana. We are all surprised,” Khera said.
Jairam Ramesh referred to the results in Jammu and Kashmir where the National Conference-Congress alliance is poised for a majority in the assembly.
“The chapter on Haryana is not complete, it will continue. The chapter in Jammu and Kashmir, of course, there will be a coalition government. And as I said till yesterday, various attempts were being made to ensure that the majority will not come to the Congress-NC coalition but the people of Jammu and Kashmir have given a very clear mandate for this coalition government,” he said. (ANI)
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