Congress says it may take legal action to expunge Election Commission’s remarks about the party

The Congress on Friday said that the tone of the Election Commission’s response to allegations that the party had made about electoral irregularities in Haryana was condescending and that it may take legal recourse to expunge such remarks.

On October 29, the commission dismissed the Congress’ allegations of irregularities in the recent Haryana Assembly elections and accused the party of “raising the smoke of a generic doubt” on the electoral outcome.

In a letter to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, the poll panel had said that such behaviour was “least expected” from a national party.

On October 9, the Congress said there were “serious issues” related to the counting of votes and the functioning of Electronic Voting Machines in several districts. The Congress alleged that Electronic Voting Machines in constituencies where the Bharatiya Janata Party won had their batteries charged to 99% capacity, while those charged to 60-70% battery capacity showed Congress victories. The party submitted complaints from 26 constituencies where it claims to have observed this discrepancy.

This had come a day after the BJP won the Haryana election by clinching 48 seats in the 90-member Assembly. This was an increase from the 40 seats the Hindutva party had won in the 2019 polls. The Congress won 37 seats.

The Congress subsequently urged the commission to seal the Electronic...

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