In a hard-hitting response to the Election Commission’s reply to its complaints about “irregularities” in the Haryana Assembly elections, the Congress on Friday (November 1) accused the poll panel of attacking the party and its leaders while threatening to initiate legal action for expunging such remarks if it continues to do so.
In a strongly-worded letter, the Congress claimed that the EC’s reply was written in a tone that is condescending and 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. “If the poll panel’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 wrote.
The Congress’ response came days after the EC rejected allegations levelled by it over irregularities in the recently held Haryana 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.
Also read: EC response exposes Congress’ lies on rigging: Nayab Saini
‘Gave clean chit to self’
In its letter to the EC signed by 9 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 quasijudicial,” 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.”
Poll panel just performing duty
The Congress letter said that if the EC 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.
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“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.
Party focus confined to issues
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.
“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.
Also read: Haryana poll results: Congress submits 7 written complaints on EVMs to EC
The last comment was a reference to the Madras High Court castigating the Election Commission in 2021 and observing that the poll body allowing political parties to take out rallies and organise meetings had led to a surge in COVID cases.
In a 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.
(With agency inputs)
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