Amid the controversy over the cancellation of 14 votes during Rajya Sabha polls in Haryana, Election Commission on Monday began inquiry into the issue after receiving complaints from Congress and INlD.
Election Commission team headed by Haryana Chief Electoral officer Vijay Singh Dahiya visited Vidhan Sabha and met returning officer RK Nandal to inquire about the proceedings of Rajya Sabha election, which was held on June 11.
A day before, the Congress had asked the Election Commission to 'countermand' the elections and order re-polling. A delegation led by Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar had submitted a memorandum to EC to underline how the elections to the two Rajya Sabha seats from the state were rigged and why it should be held again.
On the other hand, the INlD in a letter had urged the EC to institute an inquiry into the "deep-rooted conspiracy" behind the Rajya Sabha election and punish the guilty while challenging the BJP government in the state to make public the video of the polling process to prove that nothing was amiss.
After meeting the EC team, returning officer RK Nandal, who conducted the Rajya Sabha polls, rejected the claims that the pen was changed by an MlA.
Talking to the mediapersons, Nandal said that 14 votes were declared invalid in the Rajya Sabha elections because they used their own pens, not the one provided by the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat, to cast their votes
An unauthorized pen was removed before the start of election process and a pen was given by the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat, he said.
When asked if the rejected votes were of Congress MlAs, he said that no one would be able to find out that who had cast those votes with a different ink.
Following rejection as "invalid" of 14 votes polled in the Rajya Sabha elections for two seats in Haryana on Saturday, independent candidate lawyer RK Anand, backed by INlD and Congress, lost the poll to media baron Subhash Chandra, also an independent who was supported by the ruling BJP.
Both Congress and INlD have pointed fingers at each other after 14 votes, which according to BJP and leader of Opposition and INlD's senior leader Abhay Chautala were of the Congress, were found to be invalid.
Chandra had got only 15 votes and Anand had 21 votes as first preference in the final count, but BJP MlAs had listed the media baron as their second preference which helped him to scrape through. Union Minister and BJP leader Birender Singh comfortably won the other Rajya Sabha seat from Haryana, garnering 40 votes.
Chief Minister hits out at opposition
Following the opposition accusations on BJP for hatching a deep-rooted conspiracy during Rajya Sabha polls in the state, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal on Tuesday hit back at the opposition saying that one should learn to accept defeat as in democracy if someone wins and the other losses.
Talking to mediapersons, the Chief Minister said that as the candidate supported by the opposition has lost the election, they were leveling allegations true to the proverb of 'Khisyani Billi Khamba Noche'(to show anger after getting embarrassed).
One should learn to accept defeat, said the Chief Minister adding that they should themselves find the reason, if any, for their defeat in the election.
On the issue of votes being declared invalid during the Rajya Sabha election, the Chief Minister said that the MlAs whose votes were rejected know better as with what thought they voted.
He said that it is wrong to put blame on others. It is a democratic system, and all the MlAs have voted freely according to their wisdom. Out of the two winning candidates in the Rajya Sabha Elections, one is BJP candidate and other is BJP supported, he added.
On the allegations of change of pen by a BJP MlA during election, the Chief Minister said that those who are leveling allegation could lodge their complaint with the Election Commission.
Haryana Congress chief met Rahul Gandhi
Shocked by the behaviour of its14 legislators who apparently got their votes invalid by marking the ballot with a wrong pen during Rajya Sabha polls, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday evening held a meeting with Haryana party chief Ashok Tanwar on the issue.
During the meeting, Tanwar apprized Gandhi about the current situation in the party.
Following the reports that Hooda and his loyalists did not want to vote for Anand in the first place since he was a candidate backed by rival INlD, Tanwar had earlier said, "The party high command is keeping an eye on the situation and action will be taken against the MlAs if found guilty and backstabbing the party.'