Amid the apprehensions expressed by the Congress concerning the voting percentage in Maharashtra elections, the Election Commission has invited a Congress delegation to meet it on December 3. The ECI noted that a transparent process is followed with the involvement of candidates and their agents at every stage of the voting process.
The grand old party had also raised some apprehensions about the EVM process after the Haryana assembly polls. The poll panel has said it will review all legitimate concerns of Congress and provide a written response after hearing the party’s delegation. In its interim response to Congress, the ECI reaffirmed that there is a transparent process with the involvement of candidates or their agents at every stage.
In its interim response, the poll body also reiterated that there is a transparent electoral roll updation process with the involvement of political parties. The Commission has still assured Congress of further review of all its legitimate concerns, the officials said.
Responding to the issue raised by Congress pertaining to the voter turnout data, the poll body asserted that there is no discrepancy in voter turnout data, which is available with all candidates polling station-wise and is verifiable.
“The gap in 5 PM polling data and final voter turnout is due to procedural priorities, as presiding officers perform multiple statutory duties near the close of the poll before updating voter turnout data. As an additional disclosure measure, the ECI press note, at around 11:45 pm, was thus introduced during the 2024 general elections and followed subsequently during all assembly elections thereafter,” the poll panel said.
On Friday, the Congress lashed out at the Election Commission and alleged that the “integrity of the entire electoral process is being severely compromised.” The issue was discussed at the Congress Working Committee meeting, and the party said it will launch a “national movement.”
“The Congress Working Committee (CWC) believes the integrity of the entire electoral process is being severely compromised. Free and fair elections is a constitutional mandate that is being called into serious question by the partisan functioning of the Election Commission. Increasing sections of society are becoming frustrated and deeply apprehensive. The Congress will take up these public concerns as a national movement,” the Congress statement said.
Speaking to the media, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said that “electoral malpractices” also influenced the result of the Haryana Assembly election.
“The CWC also acknowledged that the party’s performance in Haryana has been contrary to all expectations. The INC should have formed the government in the state by a convincing margin, but it didn’t. However, there have been electoral malpractices that influenced the result in the state, which have been overlooked,” he alleged.
He said that the CWC accepted the party’s performance in Maharashtra; that was “unexplainable and shocking,” and it appears to be a clear case of “targeted manipulation.”
Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole also wrote to the ECI seeking to know how voter turnout increased by 7.83 percentage points after the official polling time had ended.
“Doubts are being raised from many levels on the 7.83 percent increase in votes. Looking at the vote figures announced by the Election Commission, there must have been long queues at the polling stations after 5 p.m. on the day of voting. In how many constituencies in the state were there long queues of voters after 5 pm?” Patole said his letter to the apex poll body.
He further demanded that the Election Commission announce “evidence,” including video footage. “According to the official figures released by the Election Commission, 65.2% of voting was done till 11.30 pm on November 20. The official figures released on the next day, i.e., on November 21 at 3 pm, were 66.05 percent. Where did the 1.03 percent discrepancy in the figures officially released by the Election Commission itself come from? How did a whopping nine lakh ninetynine thousand and three hundred and fifty-nine votes increase in a single day?” he asked.
(With ANI Inputs)
