Congress accuses Election Commission of bias in Haryana, signals possible legal action

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Friday hit back at the Election Commission (EC), accusing the poll body of bias after the EC dismissed allegations of irregularities in the recently held Haryana assembly elections. The Congress also accused the poll body of attacking the party and its leaders and threatened to take legal action for expunging such remarks if it continues to do so.

The grand old party claimed that the Election Commission’s response was “condescending” and suggested the panel is “remarkably effective” at eroding its neutrality.

The main Opposition party claimed that the poll body had “given a clean chit to itself” and shared a “generic non-reply” that primarily focused on diminishing the complaints and petitioners.

“We have carefully studied your response to our complaints. Not surprisingly, the ECI has given a clean chit to itself…If the current ECI’s goal is to strip itself of the last vestiges of neutrality, then it is doing a remarkable job at creating that impression,” the party said in its letter.

The party said it had been compelled to write a counter-response due to the “the tone and tenor” of the ECI message as well as “the language used and the allegations made against the INC”.

The Congress warned that if the poll panel persists with such language then it would have no choice but to seek legal recourse to expunge such remarks.

The Congress’s response came days after the EC rejected allegations levelled by it over irregularities in the just-held assembly polls, saying the party was raising “the smoke of a generic doubt” about the credibility of an entire electoral outcome like it did in the past.

In its letter to the EC signed by nine senior Congress leaders, including general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh, the party said, “We have carefully studied your response to our complaints.

Not surprisingly, the ECI has given a clean chit to itself. We would normally have let it be at that. However, the tone and tenor of the ECI’s response, the language used, and the allegations made against the INC compel us to submit the counter-response.”

“We do not know who is advising or guiding the hon’ble Commission, but it seems that the Commission has forgotten that it is a body set up under the Constitution and charged with the discharge of certain crucial functions - both administrative and quasi judicial,” the response by the Congress leaders said.

Posting the reply on X, Congress general secretary Ramesh said, “ECI gave a non-reply to Congress’ specific complaints in 20 Vidhan Sabha constituencies in Haryana.”

The Congress letter said that if the Commission grants a recognised national party a hearing or examines issues raised by them in good faith it is not an ‘exception’ or ‘indulgence’ but it is the performance of a duty which it is required to do.

“If the Commission is refusing to grant us a hearing or refusing to engage on certain complaints (which it has done in the past) then the law allows recourse to the higher courts’ extraordinary jurisdiction to compel the ECI to discharge this function (as happened in 2019),” the letter said.

The Congress leaders, who had petitioned the EC alleging irregularities in the polls, said every reply from the EC now seems to be laced with ad-hominem attacks on either individual leaders or the party itself.

The leaders said the Congress’ communications confine themselves to issues and are written with a regard for the high office of the CEC and his brother Commissioners.

“However, the ECI’s reply are written in a tone that is condescending. If the current ECI’s goal is to strip itself of the last vestiges of neutrality, then it is doing a remarkable job at creating that impression,” the party said in its letter.

“Judges who write decisions do not attack or demonise the party raising the issues. However, if the ECI persists then we shall have no choice but to seek legal recourse to expunge such remarks (a remedy with which the ECI is familiar since it unsuccessfully sought to do the same with a high court’s unflattering but accurate observations after Covid),” said the letter signed by Ramesh, K C Venugopal, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupinder Hooda, Ajay Maken, Abhishek Singhvi, Uday Bhan, Partap Bajwa and Pawan Khera.

In a strongly-worded letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, the poll panel had said such “frivolous and unfounded” doubts have the potential of creating “turbulence” when crucial steps like polling and counting are in live play, a time when both public and political parties’ anxiousness is peaking.

The BJP retained power in Haryana for the third successive time, winning 48 of the 90 seats in the October 5 assembly elections with the Congress bagging 37 seats, INLD two and Independents three seats.