The Election Commission of India on Tuesday firmly rejected allegations made by the Congress over irregularities in the recently concluded Haryana Assembly elections, calling them "baseless and misplaced". In an official statement addressed to the Congress, the ECI also urged the party to refrain from making irresponsible allegations and creating unfounded doubts that can create turbulence, especially at the time when polling and counting are underway.
The poll body called out the Congress for persistently raising unfounded doubts on the 'core' aspects of Indian electoral process, with a sort of discernable pattern of timelines and approach. It also underscored party's pattern of raising "generic" doubts about the electoral process, emphasising the need for concrete evidence to support such claims.
"The Commission categorically rejects all baseless allegations and apprehensions conveyed by INC regarding all aspects of the electoral process in the recently concluded election to the state assembly of Haryana," the ECI said in its statement.
"The Commission normally refrains Page 5 of 8 from responding on grievances relating to constituency specific decentralized electoral processes, whether in case of electoral roll or candidates or deployment of man and material or conduct of poll or counting, officials like ERO/ RO/DEO being the fully empowered election authorities. However, ECI is duty bound to protect and defend the integrity of the core design of this statutory decentralized scheme, that is being sought to be eroded or duplicated, by “generic” petitions/grievances setting out false narratives without any evidence whatsoever, raised in proximity to polling or counting day, which have serious potential to fuel the surcharged environment," it added.
The ECI also mentioned five specific instances from last year where the Congress had made similar allegations were made without proof, and urged the party, known for longstanding political experience, to exercise due diligence and avoid habitual attacks on the electoral process.
The ECI also said that raising such complaints and "unfounded doubts" can trigger issues in the country. "It is needless to remind that 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 communications carrying baseless allegations were often widely publicized by INC even before receipt of any formal letter in the ECI and mostly coinciding with peak of electoral cycle i.e., near to or on poll day or counting day," it said.
ECI quoted a gist of 42 judgements by Constitutional Courts which examined various materials on record and conveyed their faith in the EVMs.
Addressing Congress's concerns about the EVM battery display, the ECI clarified that the battery voltage and capacity are irrelevant to the EVMs' vote-counting functionality and integrity. "The battery status displayed on the Control Unit serves only to assist technical teams in monitoring power levels to ensure smooth operation during polling," it said.
During the vote counting of the Haryana Assembly polls, Congress general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh had accused the BJP of attempting to manipulate the election verdict. He had also submitted a memorandum to the ECI, highlighting alleged irregularities in the vote counting. He, along with Pawan Khera, had also claimed that the EVMs showing 99 percent battery charge were the ones where the Congress candidates had lost, while the machines with lower battery percentages indicated victories for its party candidates.
The poll body also dismissed any suggestion that battery levels could influence voting outcomes as preposterous. The ECI has published a detailed FAQ on its website for various aspects of EVM battery use, including battery types, the use of alkaline cells, differences between EVM power packs and mobile phone batteries, EVM functionality independent of operating voltage, and explanations for why the power pack status sometimes reads 99 per cent even after a full day of polling.