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ECI accepts Cong's request for meeting to discuss Haryana poll outcome
Claiming there were ’irregularities' in the vote counting, held yesterday, the party ‘refused’ to accept its defeat in an election it was expected to sweep.
A day after the Congress ‘refused’ to accept its defeat in the October 5 Haryana assembly election citing ‘irregularities’ in yesterday's vote counting, the Election Commission on Wednesday accepted the party's request for a meeting to discuss the alleged irregularities.
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The Congress delegation can meet officials of the poll body at 6pm at the commission's office, it informed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
“I am directed to refer to the widely reported statement made by Shri Jairam Ramesh, MP, and Shri Pawan Khera on 8th October 2024, which seemingly made an assertion, in the context of the recently concluded General Election to the Legislative Assembly of Haryana, to the effect that ‘election results are unacceptable’,” the letter from Election Commission principal secretary, NT Bhutia, read, according to ANI.
Calling the statements ‘unprecedented’ and an ‘undemocratic rejection of the people’s will,' the Election Commission mentioned it had taken note of remarks by several Congress members, including Kharge himself, and Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, describing the poll outcome as ‘unexpected.’
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“The Election Commission is now in receipt of a request seeking a meeting time of a 12-member official Congress delegation, including those members, who made the statements. The commission has agreed to meet today at 6pm at the Nirvachan Sadan,” the letter stated.
Defying both exit polls and a 10-year anti-incumbency, the BJP clinched a third successive term in Haryana over the Congress; the latter was widely expected to sweep the election. However, the saffron party won 48 seats in the 90-member assembly, and the grand old party, 37. Three independents and two candidates of the Indian National Lok Dal were also victorious.
