The Haryana assembly election results are unexpected and the Congress cannot accept them, the party said in a press conference on Tuesday, hours after the BJP snatched victory from the Grand Old Party despite initial trends indicating a comfortable win for the latter.
Addressing a press conference, senior party leaders Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera blamed EVMs — a usual Congress grouse — and said the party had lost on seats “where it had no chance of losing”.
“We are getting constant complaints [from Haryana]. We were being told that EVMs that had 99 per cent battery were leading to our loss, while we won when voters voted on machines that had 60-70 per cent batteries.”
Ramesh said: “Ye tantra ki jeet hai aur loktantra ki haar. We have been constantly complaining to the Election Commission since afternoon. We will give our complaints to EC. Serious questions have been raised by our candidates and this result is against the will of the people of Haryana. Under such circumstances, we cannot accept the results.”
Earlier in the day, former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda trained his guns on the Election Commission, blaming the poll body for not updating the results of many constituencies that the Congress was supposedly winning on their website.
Addressing reporters amid the BJP’s stunning comeback in the state after initial trends indicated a victory for Congress, Hooda said: “We are getting a majority. A wrong perception is being created. We are winning many seats but they [EC] are not updating. We are winning several constituencies like Adampur, Jhajjar, and Rohtak. I would like appeal to counting agents to stay firm at the counting centres.”
He added: “We are getting to know that Congress is leading in 10 seats but EC has stopped counting and is not updating the numbers in those constituencies.”
The Congress on Tuesday filed a formal complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) about a delay in publishing the results of the Haryana assembly election, with Ramesh calling the tactics “mind games”. The charge came after a dramatic turnaround in which the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) clawed back to take a comfortable lead in the state after initial trends showed Congress leading.
The crux of the Congress argument was that the trends on the ECI website were way behind the actual counting and that the local administration could be under pressure.
“Like the Lok Sabha elections, in Haryana, we are again witnessing 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,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh posted on X.
Like the Lok Sabha elections, in Haryana we are again witnessing 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 @ECISVEEP?
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) October 8, 2024