The Election Commission of India (ECI) has dismissed as “baseless” the Indian National Congress’ allegations challenging the outcome of the Haryana assembly elections, which saw the BJP secure a historic third consecutive win.
In a strong response to Congress’ allegations about alleged wrongdoing in certain electoral processes, the ECI on Tuesday, Oct 29, said the Congress has once again cast a “smoke of a generic doubt” over the electoral process in a manner similar to its past actions.
The ECI’s rebuttal came in response to a series of grievances submitted by the Congress, which raised suspicions regarding the handling of electronic voting machines (EVMs) across 26 of the total 90 assembly constituencies. Among the Congress’ allegations were concerns about tampering, citing EVMs showing a 99% battery status during the counting process, which the Congress argued could indicate possible manipulation. The party had also accused the ECI of deliberately slowing down the counting process and questioned the transparency and security of EVM handling.
“The commission categorically rejects all baseless allegations and apprehensions conveyed by Indian National Congress regarding all aspects of the electoral process in the recently concluded election to the state assembly of Haryana,” the ECI said in an eight-page letter addressed to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.