The Election Commission on Tuesday rejected allegations levelled by the Congress over irregularities in the just-held Haryana assembly polls, 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. The poll panel has also warned the grand old party, asking it to refrain from “baseless allegations” election after election.
The poll panel said that "once again", it was compelled to note that with "no evidence whatsoever" of any statutory electoral step being compromised, the Congress has "once again raised the smoke of a generic doubt" about the credibility of an entire electoral outcome "exactly in a similar manner as it has done in recent past". “This is least expected of a national political party. The Commission appreciates the criticality of the considered views of political parties in sustaining and strengthening electoral democracy in the country and assures that it will remain committed towards timely grievance redressal.
At the same time, the Commission sincerely urges INC to take firm and concrete steps, matching with the party’s long and illustrious standing, to amend their afore stated approach and in doing so set an example for emulation by one and all to responsibly conduct themselves at sensitive electoral stages so as to avoid possibilities of precipitation of public unrest and chaos,” the EC said in its order. The Congress had made several complaints to the EC, including allegations of a slowdown in the vote counting process on October 8, the day results of the Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir elections were declared. The Congress had also sought clarification on display of 99% battery status on the control units (CU) of electronic voting machines (EVM), during counting in some polling stations of 26 assembly constituencies.
The Commission said “It is needless to remind that such frivolous and unfounded doubts have the potential of creating turbulence when crucial steps like polling and counting are in live play, a time when both public and political parties’ anxiousness is peaking. The communications carrying baseless allegations were often widely publicized by INC even before receipt of any formal letter in the ECI and mostly coinciding with peak of electoral cycle i.e., near to or on poll day or counting day”.
