Congress Expands Complaint To Election Commission Over Vote Counting Discrepancies

Chandigarh, 14th October 2024: Following its complaint to the Election Commission (EC) regarding alleged discrepancies in vote counting across seven Assembly seats in Haryana, the Congress has now submitted an updated memorandum that includes grievances from 13 additional seats.

In the elections, the BJP secured 12 of these seats, while the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) won one. Among the 13 contested seats, 11 involved direct contests between the BJP and Congress, one featured a battle between the INLD and Congress, and one was contested by the BJP against an Independent candidate.

In the memorandum submitted on Friday, the Congress included a complaint from its Panipat City candidate, Varinder Kumar. He alleged that numerous Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) control units displayed a 99% battery level during counting. He further claimed that his election agents were barred from bringing copies of Form 17C—used to record votes from polling stations—into the counting rooms, which prevented them from verifying the data and raised suspicions of possible tampering.

Uchana Kalan: This constituency had the narrowest margin in the polls—just 32 votes. Former Deputy Chief Minister and Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) chief Dushyant Chautala, the grandson of former Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala, and Brijendra Singh, son of former Union minister Birender Singh, contested in this high-profile, Jat-dominated area. Dushyant finished fifth with only 7,950 votes, losing his security deposit. The final contest was between Brijendra and BJP’s Devender Chatar Bhuj Atri, with Atri emerging victorious by a mere 32 votes, polling 48,968 votes against Brijendra’s 48,936 votes. The BJP’s only previous win in this seat was in 2014, when Prem Lata, Brijendra’s wife, won with around 50,000 votes.

Pataudi: This contest was notable for featuring two female candidates. The Congress fielded first-time candidate Pearl Chaudhary, 48, a lawyer, against sitting MLA Bimla Chaudhary. The last time Congress won in Pataudi was in 2005, when Bhupinder Chaudhary, Pearl’s father, defeated the INLD’s Ganga Ram. Ganga Ram won the seat in 2009 by 24,747 votes, and in 2014, Bimla won by 38,963 votes against Ganga Ram, retaining her seat in 2019. This time, Bimla triumphed over Pearl by 46,530 votes.

Indri: The BJP has held this seat since 2014. Karan Dev Kambhoj won with a margin of 24,000 votes against the INLD in 2014, and his successor, Ram Kumar Kashyap, increased this margin to about 8,000 votes in 2019. In the recent election, Kashyap again defeated Congress’s Rakesh Kambhoj, this time with a reduced margin of 15,149 votes.

Badkhal: The BJP has also maintained its winning streak here since 2014. Seema Trikha narrowly avoided defeat in 2019, winning against Congress’s Vijay Pratap Singh by just over 3,000 votes. In the latest election, Dhanesh Adlkaha secured 79,476 votes, winning by a margin of 6,181 votes.

Faridabad NIT: This seat reflects the declining influence of the INLD, dropping from 19 seats in 2014 to only two this year. In 2014, the INLD’s Nagendra Badhana won with a narrow margin, but in 2019, Congress’s Neeraj Sharma defeated Bhadana by just over 3,000 votes. This time, the BJP’s Satish Kumar Phadgna beat Sharma by 33,217 votes.

Nalwa: This seat also shifted away from the INLD. In 2019, the BJP’s Ranbir Gangwa won against Congress’s Randhir Panihar by 10,000 votes. Panihar, contesting on a BJP ticket this time, defeated Congress’s Anil Mann by 12,144 votes.

Rania: Dominated by regional parties such as the INLD and the Gopal Kanda-led Haryana Lokhit Party, this is one of the two seats retained by the INLD. In 2014, Ram Chand Kamboj of the INLD won against HLP’s Gobind Kanda. An Independent candidate, Ranjit Singh, won in 2019, again defeating Gobind. This election saw the INLD’s Arjun Chautala, son of senior leader Abhay Singh Chautala, win against Congress’s Sarv Mitter by 4,191 votes.

Palwal: This seat has oscillated between the BJP and Congress since 2014. Deepak Mangla of the BJP won in 2019 against Congress’s Karan Singh Dalal by 28,000 votes. The margin increased this time, with Gaurav Gautam defeating Dalal by 33,605 votes.

Ballabgarh: BJP’s Mool Chand Sharma has held this seat since 2014. In previous elections, he won against different Congress candidates, and this time, he defeated Independent Sharda Rathore by 17,730 votes, while Congress’s Parag Sharma garnered only 8,674 votes, placing fourth.

Barwala: This INLD seat was previously won by Jannayak Janta Party’s Jogi Ram Sihag in 2014. This election saw BJP’s Ranbir Gangwa win over Congress’s Ramnivas Ghorela by 26,942 votes.

Gharaunda: BJP’s Harvinder Kalyan has held this seat since 2014. In 2019, he defeated Congress’s Anil Kumar by 18,000 votes, and this time he won against Congress’s Varinder Singh Rathore by 4,531 votes.

Kosli: The BJP has consistently won this seat since 2014. In the latest election, the party’s Anil Yadav defeated Jagdish Yadav by 17,209 votes.

Badshahpur: BJP’s Narbir Singh initially won against INLD’s Rakesh Daulatabad in 2014 with an 18,000-vote margin. In 2019, Daulatabad, now an Independent, defeated BJP’s Manish Yadav by 10,000 votes. In this election, the BJP’s Rao Narbir Singh won against Congress’s Vardhan Yadav by a significant margin of 60,705 votes.