A Congress delegation on Wednesday met the top Election Commission officials in Delhi, demanding an investigation into the "glaring discrepancies" found in some Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during the counting of votes of the Haryana assembly polls.
They also urged the poll body to seal those EVMs, which were allegedly having high battery percentage despite being used the whole day, until the investigation is completed in the matter.
The delegation comprised former chief ministers Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Ashok Gehlot and AICC leaders K.C. Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Ajay Maken and Pawan Khera, besides Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan.
"Considering that the said issue could potentially alter the results for some Assembly constituencies, we request that this Hon'ble Commission take urgent measures and order for an enquiry on this issue. In fact, subject to the enquiry report, the Hon'ble Commission should issue requisite directions regarding the counting of polls and final results," the party said in its memorandum submitted to the poll watchdog.
Later, talking to reporters, Khera said they have informed the ECI about the complaints they received from 20 constituencies.
“We told ECI about the 20 complaints of which seven are written complaints from seven constituencies. There were machines that were at 99 per cent and other normal machines were at 60-70 per cent on the day of counting. We demanded that those machines should be sealed and secured until the investigation is complete,” he said.
The seven written complaints were received from Karnal, Hodal, Panipat City, Kalka, Rewari, Narnaul and Kalanwali constituencies, Khera said, adding that complaints from 13 more assembly constituencies will be submitted to ECI in the next 48 hours.
Former CM Hooda, under whose leadership Congress fought the election, said the results were surprising. “Everyone believed that the Congress would be forming the next government in Haryana. When the counting of postal ballots took place, the Congress was winning, but when the counting of EVMs started, the opposite happened," he said.
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The BJP is all set to form the government in the state for the third consecutive term after winning 48 seats in the 90-member assembly. The Congress bagged 37 seats.
On Tuesday, Khera and Jairam Ramesh alleged that they had received complaints from several constituencies that there were EVMs with 99 per cent battery on which the BJP won while units with 60-70 per cent battery saw the Congress win.
The Congress leaders rejected the elections results, terming them as “completely surprising and counter-intuitive”.