Condescending: Congress on EC’s reply to its Haryana poll charge

The Congress on Friday slammed the Election Commission after it rejected allegations over irregularities in the Haryana Assembly poll.

The party said if the poll panel’s goal was to “strip itself of the last vestiges of neutrality”, then it was doing a “remarkable job at creating that impression”. It said the EC’s reply was written in a condescending tone and warned that if the commission persisted with such language, the party would have no choice but to seek legal recourse to challenge such remarks.

The Congress’ response follows rejection by the EC of allegations levelled by the party over irregularities in the recently concluded Haryana Assembly poll, saying the party was raising “the smoke of a generic doubt” about the credibility of an entire electoral outcome, like it did in the past.

In its letter to the EC signed by nine senior Congress leaders, including general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh, the party said, “We do not know who is advising or guiding the hon’ble commission, but it seems that the commission has forgotten that it is a body set up under the Constitution and charged with the discharge of certain crucial functions, both administrative and quasijudicial,” the response by Congress leaders said.

Posting the reply on X, Ramesh said, “ECI gave a non-reply to Congress’ specific complaints in 20 Vidhan Sabha constituencies in Haryana.” The Congress letter said if the commission granted a recognised national party a hearing or examined issues raised by them in good faith, it was not an “exception” or “indulgence”, but it was the performance of a duty which it was required to do.

“If the commission is refusing to grant us a hearing or refusing to engage on certain complaints (which it has done in the past), then the law allows recourse to the higher courts’ extraordinary jurisdiction to compel the ECI to discharge this function (as happened in 2019),” the letter said.

The party leaders, who had petitioned the commission, alleging poll irregularities, said every reply from the panel now seemed to be laced with ad-hominem attacks on either individual leaders or the party itself.

It said the Congress’ communications confined themselves to issues and were written with deference for the high office of the CEC and his brother Commissioners.

Besides Ramesh, the letter was signed by KC Venugopal, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupinder Hooda, Ajay Maken, Abhishek Singhvi, Udai Bhan, Partap Bajwa and Pawan Khera.

The BJP retained power in Haryana, winning 48 of 90 seats in the October 5 Assembly elections. The Congress bagged 37 seats, INLD two and Independents three.

‘Not doing any favour by entertaining plaint’

The Congress letter said if the EC granted a recognised national party a hearing or examined issues raised by them in good faith, it was not an “exception” or “indulgence”, but it was the performance of a duty which it was required to do.