Congress To Set UP Technical Teams To Look Into EVM Complaints

Haryana Results 2024: Congress , which raised questions on EVMs after a crushing defeat in Haryana elections, has decided to set up technical team to look into complaints, discrepancies in EVMs as alleged by party candidates in the state.

Earlier, a delegation of top Congress leaders comprising former chief ministers Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Ashok Gehlot and AICC leaders KC Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Ajay Maken and Pawan Khera, besides Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan, had met with top Election Commission officials after election results.

The delegation handed over a memorandum to the officials along with specific complaints from various constituencies in Haryana . Senior party leader Abhishek Singhvi joined the meeting online.

Congress questions EVMs batteries 

The Congress leaders alleged that there are at least 20 such complaints, including seven in writing from as many assembly constituencies, with many referring to EVMs functioning at 99 per cent battery capacity whereas the average EVMs were found to be operating at 60 to 70 per cent battery capacity during the counting.

The party alleged "glaring discrepancies" related to some of the EVMs in the Haryana polls and urged the EC to conduct a probe.

"There are doubts about vote counting as the Haryana results are surprising. Everyone believed that the Congress would be forming the next government in Haryana. When the counting of postal ballots took place, the Congress was winning, but when the counting of EVMs started, the opposite happened," former chief minister Hooda told reporters after the meeting.

Congress ' Goa co-in-charge Dr Anjali Nimbalkar has said that her party respected the poll verdict in Haryana but something was fishy about the Electronic Voting Machines. Defying anti-incumbency, the BJP pulled off a victory in the Haryana assembly elections.

"In Haryana , when counting started, the Congress was leading, but as the day progressed, the BJP took the lead," Nimbalkar told reporters, adding that a senior congress leader had already expressed apprehension that there was "something fishy" in the EVMs.

"How come the batteries of EVMs were at 60 per cent when fully charged," she said, adding that Congress has lodged a complaint with the authorities.

The atmosphere in Haryana favoured her party, Nimbalkar said, adding that Congress accepts the verdict as voters are God. "We have decided to sit in the opposition and work for the people of the state," she added.

With inputs from PTI