Irresponsible, unfounded: Election Commission on Congress’s counting delay charge

The Election Commission on Tuesday rejected Congress’s charge of a slowdown in updating the counting data of Haryana Assembly Elections to the poll panel’s website. The poll panel said that the Congress’s allegations were “irresponsible, unfounded and uncorroborated malafide narratives”.
The poll panel’s remarks came after Congress General Secretary and communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh alleged slowing down of uploading up-to-date trends on the ECI website.
“There is nothing on record to substantiate your ill-founded allegation of slowdown in updating of results. Your Memorandum also does not bring out any contrary facts as to the delay at any of the constituencies in Haryana or J&K,” the poll panel said in a note.
The Congress allegations came after the BJP dramatically surged past the party’s tally in the early trends for Haryana Assembly election results on Tuesday.
Congress General Secretary and communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “Like the Lok Sabha elections, in Haryana we are again witnessing slowing down of uploading up-to-date trends on the ECI website. Is the BJP trying to build pressure on the administration by sharing outdated and misleading trends.”
The ruling BJP has crossed the halfway mark of 45 in the Haryana assembly polls and was leading on 48 seats now, while the Congress was ahead on 33, according to the latest trends on the Election Commission website.
Ramesh also wrote to the Election Commission, alleging “inordinate and unacceptable delay in updating trends” in the Haryana Assembly election results.
Congress leader Pawan Khera also alleged that there was a mismatch in the number of rounds counted and the number of rounds being shown on the television through the Election Commission data.
“The Election Commission data is lagging behind, they are still showing fourth or the fifth found data while 11 rounds have been counted. Our General Secretary Communications has tweeted to the Election Commission asking – are trying to put pressure on the local administration by delaying the display and uploading of data. In J&K you are getting live data with every round counted but in Haryana, it is not so,” news agency ANI quoted Khera as saying.
Reacting to the Congress’s charge, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya told India Today TV, “The Congress has this habit of crying every time they lose. Earlier they would blame the EVM and now they are blaming the (Election Commission) website. Why don’t they look at their own rank and file?”
“They must be graceful and accept that the people of Haryana have voted for a third historic time for the BJP on the back of the good work that the government has done while in power. The Congress has to accept that they are not the default option in the country anymore,” he added.
BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla also mocked the Congress for its premature celebration. “At 8.30-9 am, Pawan Khera was distributing jalebis. Around 11.30 their spokespersons started criticising the Election Commission, by 12 noon Jairam Ramesh started to raise questions on the country’s institutions and by 2 pm, the Congress will begin to question the intelligence of the voters,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.