Cong delegation meets EC, alleges tinkering of EVMs

NEW DELHI: A day after suffering a shock defeat in Haryana, a delegation of Congress leaders met the Election Commission on Wednesday and lodged a complaint, alleging that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) had been hacked.

Party spokesperson Pawan Khera said the hacking occurred across 20 seats, for seven of which they have submitted documentary evidence. The papers for the other 13 will be submitted within 48 hours, he said.

“We have requested that all the machines be sealed and secured until investigations are completed,” Khera told journalists. The party, he said, has submitted evidence of hacking in Karnal, Dabwali, Rewari, Panipat City, Hodal, Kalka, and Narnaul.

Counting of votes in a fair, transparent, and accountable manner is the hallmark of any electoral process that claims to adhere to the principles of free and fair elections and the doctrine of a level playing field as envisaged by the Constitution,” the party’s memorandum to the EC said.

“It is a shocking result. Everyone said Congress would form the government,” said former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was the face of the Congress campaign and the party’s Chief Ministerial candidate.

Alleging tampering, Hooda claimed that the Congress consistently wins when postal ballots are opened, but the numbers start to drop once the counting of votes from EVMs begins.

The Congress won 37 of Haryana’s 90 seats—trailing far behind the BJP, which, with 48 seats, secured a historic third straight term.

Returning to analyse the “unexpected” results in Haryana, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, in his first reaction to the shock defeat, thanked the people of Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir for their support.

“My heartfelt thanks to the people of Jammu and Kashmir—INDIA’s victory in the state is a victory of the Constitution, a victory of democratic self-respect,” he said.

Despite the BJP’s strong performance, eight out of ten ministers in the Haryana assembly were defeated, including Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta. The Congress faced a disappointing outcome, falling short of expectations despite gaining five seats compared to the last election. The party’s vote share was nearly on par with the BJP’s—39.04% compared to the BJP’s 39.94%—but its seat tally fell drastically. This is the first time the party has experienced such a poor vote-to-seat conversion despite having nearly 40% of the vote share at the state level.

Even high-profile Congress winner Vinesh Phogat, a wrestler-turned-politician, managed to hold onto the Julana seat by a margin of 6,015 votes after a closely contested race.

Several explanations are being offered for the Congress’s shock defeat in Haryana, including poor election management, complacency, overconfidence, infighting, monopolisation of the party organisation and candidatures by the Hooda family, and, more broadly, by the Jat community.

“We will continue this fight for rights, for social and economic justice, for truth, and we will keep raising your voice,” Gandhi said.

The Congress demanded a thorough investigation into the “discrepancies” found in some EVMs during the counting of votes in the Haryana assembly polls and called for those EVMs to be sealed and secured pending inquiry.

The Congress leaders alleged that many complaints involved EVMs operating at 99 per cent battery capacity, whereas the average EVMs were found to be operating at 60 to 70 per cent capacity during the counting process.

The party has pointed to “glaring discrepancies” related to some EVMs in the Haryana polls and urged the EC to conduct a probe.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission dismissed the statement by senior Congress leaders calling the Haryana results “unacceptable” as “unprecedented in the rich democratic heritage” of the country and far from legitimate free speech.

In a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, the EC said such remarks by party leaders Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera veered toward “an undemocratic rejection of the will of the people” expressed in accordance with the statutory and regulatory electoral framework.

The Commission also noted the statements by Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, who described the Haryana results as “unexpected,” with the party planning to analyze the outcome and approach the EC with its complaints.