EC rejects Congress’s allegations of irregularities in Haryana poll

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday rejected the Congress's allegations of irregularities in EVMs during the recently concluded Haryana assembly polls, describing them as "baseless when faced with inconvenient electoral outcomes".

The poll body said the Congress was raising smoke of ‘generic doubt,’ stressing that each step in the whole process was carried out flawlessly.

On October 8, when the results of Haryana assembly elections were declared and the BJP emerged the winner, bagging 45 of the 90 seats, the Congress - which prior to the polls was being considered the frontrunner - had sought a clarification on display of 99 per cent battery status on the control units (CU) of the EVMs, during counting in some polling stations of 26 assembly constituencies and had sent a list of these seats to the poll panel, seeking a probe.

It had alleged that on polling stations where the batteries were 60 per cent to 70 per cent charged, the Congress had won, while on those stations where batteries of CUs were fully charged, the BJP had won.

The Congress had wondered as to how could the batteries remain 100 per cent charged despite the polling having taken place on October 5 and the results being declared on October 8.

"The Commission categorically rejects all baseless allegations and apprehensions conveyed by the Congress regarding all aspects of the electoral process in the recently concluded election to the state assembly of Haryana," the ECI said on Tuesday, while refuting the Congress's allegations.

"After a thorough verification by returning officers of all 26 assembly constituencies in question, the ECI wrote to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge that each step in electoral process in Haryana was flawless and done under the watch of Congress candidates or agents," the poll panel said.