India
EC to clarify Congress queries on EVMs: Sibal – Times of India
The Congress had on Friday filed more complaints with the Election Commission over discrepancies in the electronic voting machines during the counting of votes for the Haryana Assembly elections.
The Congress candidates from 20 constituencies, in their written complaints to the Election Commission (EC), have alleged that the batteries in some of the EVMs were 99 percent charged during counting on October 8.
The complaints follow Congress’s shocking defeat in the Assembly elections after the party failed to secure a simple majority even after a decade of BJP rule in Haryana.
Asked about the allegations, Sibal said: “The questions that Congress has raised about EVMs, it is providing evidence on this to the Election Commission. So I don’t know much about it, but the EC needs to clarify it. If I think misuse of EVMs is happening, I can’t say to what extent it is happening.”
“I have been against this from the beginning. I have made many statements in the past. What is opaque should not be accepted,” the former Congress leader and independent Rajya Sabha MP added.
The Congress has said the assembly poll results were “unexpected” and there are discrepancies in the EVMs in some seats.
“In furtherance of the issues raised and the representation submitted to the Election Commission of India on October 9, we have now submitted an updated memo drawing attention to serious and glaring irregularities in the electoral process in twenty constituencies in Haryana . We hope that the Election Commission will take note of this and issue appropriate guidelines,” AICC Secretary General Communications Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X on Friday.
“We urge you to take action on the attached complaints and ensure that all EVMs from these constituencies are sealed immediately. It is further requested that a detailed investigation be conducted into our complaints and completed in a time-bound manner.” as stated in the party memorandum to the EC.
Some congressional candidates, in their written complaints, now forwarded to the European Commission, have alleged that while most EVMs were charged less than 80 percent during the count, some were charged 99 percent.
“It is to be noted that the EVM battery percentage casts serious doubt on the election results as the Congress candidates are winning in most of the EVM machines where the battery percentage was below 80 percent,” a Congress candidate said.
Senior congressional leaders had met with European Commission officials last Wednesday and submitted seven written complaints. They had said they would make more such complaints in detail to some of their other candidates.
In the memorandum to the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners, the Congress said, “One of the issues faced by a significant number of our candidates was related to EVMs and their battery capacity.”
It said these EVMs were used for counting votes polled during the October 5 parliamentary elections.
