2024 Haryana assembly polls: Congress fact-finding panel alleges mismatch in vote data, EVM tampering
Congress leader Karan Dalal, who submitted an interim report on the alleged poll manipulations at a briefing, accused the BJP of misusing official machinery in the assembly polls to its advantage
Pointing out a “gross mismatch” in the figures of votes polled and counted for the 2024 Haryana assembly polls, Congress leader Karan Dalal, who heads a party committee set up to investigate alleged malpractices and manipulations in polls, on Monday accused the Election Commission (EC) of not being transparent.
Dalal, a former minister, who submitted an interim report on the alleged poll manipulations at a briefing, accused the BJP of misusing official machinery in the assembly polls to its advantage and raised questions on the functioning of the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
The Congress leader claimed that the EC has refused to release the absolute number of votes polled in every constituency in Haryana assembly polls, which raises doubts about the credibility of the poll body.
Dalal said the EC only released the results showing the votes received by each candidate in absolute numbers after the counting of votes and declaration of results. “By concealing the actual votes polled in the EVMs before the start of counting of votes, a window was left for manipulation. It is pertinent to note that until 2019, the final figure of EVM votes polled used to vary very little after the close of polls on the polling day. However, in the 2024 assembly polls, the variation was much higher. At 7 pm on the polling day on October 5, 2024, the turnout was 61.19%, while it was 65.65% at 11.45 pm the same day. On October 7, a day before the counting, the voter turnout was 67.90% at 8.46 pm as per the Press Information Bureau, Delhi,” he said quoting the report.
The interim report said a mismatch of EVM votes was seen in all 22 districts after the committee analysed the figures based on available district-wise final poll percentages and the EVM votes recovered from the EVMs at the counting centres as given by EC. “This shows a huge mismatch in nine districts varying from 701 to 1,429 votes. In seven districts of Bhiwani, Gurugram, Rewari, Palwal, Faridabad, Sonepat and Panipat, the BJP lapped up 25 out of 30 seats, depicting large-scale manipulation of EVM votes,’’ the report said.
Quoting the interim report, Dalal said the calculation of votes does not match with the EVM votes polled in almost all of the constituencies except six. “There were only six assembly seats—Indri, Beri, Loharu, Fatehabad, Hisar and Sohna—where the EVM votes polled matched with the EVM votes recovered during counting,’’ Dalal claimed.
“These EVMs are not genuine. If they were, there would not have been a variation of a single vote,’’ the Congress leader claimed.
“The EC has made public statements stating that as per the rules, it is not duty-bound to release the figures of the votes polled in absolute numbers in each constituency or the state as a whole. Counting for Haryana started without the number of EVM votes polled having been released by the EC,’’ Dalal said quoting the report.
Last month, the EC rejected the Congress’ allegations of wrongdoings influencing the outcome of Haryana assembly polls. The commission had said the Congress had cast a smoke of a generic doubt over the electoral process in a manner similar to its past actions. The commission was responding to the Congress complaints suspecting manipulations in the electronic voting machines in several assembly constituencies.
The commission, in a communication to the Congress party, had said that it categorically rejects all baseless allegations and apprehensions conveyed by the Indian National Congress regarding all aspects of the electoral process in the 2024 Haryana assembly polls.
Dalal, however, said if the EC or any BJP leader can prove him wrong, he will not only tender an apology but also withdraw this report.
He alleged that the EC has declared only the voter turnout percentage and not actual figures for the Haryana polls. This is evident from all three EC press releases. Even while giving out the voter turnout percentage, the EC in its first two releases on October 5, 2024, declared the district-wise consolidated poll percentage for the state as a whole. It is best known to the EC as to why it did not reveal the constituency-wise poll percentage on these two occasions, he said. Dalal said for maintaining transparency and fairness, the EC is duty-bound to give numbers of votes polled rather than percentages.
“It can provide both numbers and percentages but it cannot take refuge under releasing only percentages as releasing the actual number of votes is necessary. By not divulging the numbers, EC has put a serious question mark on its fairness and transparency,” he added.