Congress fact-finding panel’s interim report on Haryana loss says ‘mismatch in EVMs, votes’

Congress leader Karan Singh Dalal. File photo
| Photo Credit: AKHILESH KUMAR

The head of the Congress’s fact-finding committee that went into the details of the party’s loss in Haryana Assembly polls released an interim report on Monday (December 23, 2024) alleging discrepancies in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) during counting of votes.

“Every survey was in favour of the Congress before the polls, the atmosphere in State was in favour of the Congress. But results were opposite,” eight-member committee head and party’s senior leader Karan Singh Dalal told reporters here.

Mr. Dalal also trained guns on the ruling BJP for “misusing” the government machinery in its favour.

The BJP returned to power for a third consecutive term winning 48 seats; the Congress won 37.

Mr. Dalal alleged that “the issue of batteries of EVMs having remained charged even up to 99% was registered by the Congress and the counting having been slowed down was also an issue”.

“A detailed analysis depicts the mismatch of EVM votes at various booths. The hike of votes in areas where the BJP won with slender margins and the increase of 10.52% and 11.48% EVM votes in Panchkula district and in Charkhi-Dadri district respectively after the end of the polls are other serious indicators,” he alleged.

“All these pointers indicate that there has been some serious manipulation,” he said. “…the conduct of the Election Commission of India is not above board and lacks transparency. Its approach is lackadaisical,” Mr. Dalal said.

While the Congress had levelled several allegations immediately after results were out, the EC had then rejected allegations levelled by it over “irregularities” in the polls. It said the party was raising “the smoke of a generic doubt” about the credibility of an entire electoral outcome as done in the past.

Mr. Dalal added, “Data suggest that the gross mismatch in the figures of votes polled and made available immediately after polling and then a day later coupled with the failure of the ECI to abide by its legal obligations… is a pointer to the fact that either EVMs had been tampered with or the EVMs were changed/replaced, which makes the entire exercise unreliable/suspect.” He also questioned why the EC website did not have figures on the total number of votes polled by candidates, and only the vote percentage.