Congress Alleges EVM Manipulation, Urges EC To Investigate 'Abnormally High' Battery Charges In 20 Constituencies

New Delhi: A delegation of the Congress party on Wednesday met the Election Commission and submitted a number of complaints about the functioning of the Electoral Voting Machines during the counting process. The party claimed it has received complaints from 20 constituencies where EVMs showed an abnormally high charge of over 90 per cent after the day’s counting; it has further claimed that in most such cases the BJP candidates were the beneficiaries; as against this, in those EVMs which showed normal 60% to 70% charge, the Congress candidates were found ahead.

Statement Of Congress Leader Pawan Khera

Following the meeting, Congress’s media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said a delegation comprising party general secretaries K.C. Venugopal, Ashok Gehlot, Jairam Ramesh, Ajay Maken, and former CM Deepinder Singh Hooda apprised the Election Commission on the complaints from 20 Assembly segments, including written complaints with document from seven constituencies.

Khera said these complaints stemmed from seven constituencies where the issue of batteries was acute. He said party leaders have demanded that all those machines regarding which complaints have been lodged should be “sealed and secured” till the investigation is over.

‘‘We also told the Election Commission that in the next 48 hours we would submit to it all other complaints, from 13 more Assembly constituencies, which are being collected by a party functionary."

He said the EC assured the Congress delegation that it would look into all the complaints and give the party a reply after consulting its respective Returning Officers on the points raised. The State Congress unit chief said the delegation told the EC how the EVMs had been “hacked”. He also claimed that the Chief Minister (Nayab Singh Saini of BJP) had said that “all arrangements have been made and we will again form the government” and this “created a lot of suspicions (around the fairness of the polling process) across the state”. The Congress state president also said that the 99 per cent charge on EVMs had also created suspicion in the minds of the people.

“In all the machines which were showing over 90 per cent charge, the BJP gained the most”.

The question that needed to be answered was why the batteries show 99% charge after use throughout the day. Bhan also charged that the Returning Officers in several constituencies were told of the issue and urged to compare the VVPAT slips with the votes, but they did not do so. “We have also demanded that VVPAT slips be compared with the EVM results to get to the truth,” he added.

Hooda said, “There is a great deal of suspicion around the electoral process and the results have been surprising.” He stated that everyone -- be it the media or experts or the Intelligence Bureau -- was certain that the Congress would form the next government in Haryana. The party also led in the postal ballots but fell behind when EVM counting took place.