The Congress hit out at the Election Commission (EC) after it rejected allegations of irregularities in the Haryana assembly polls. 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.
Congress slammed EC’s response over the concerns raised by the party regarding the Haryana assembly polls. In a letter to EC, 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.” The letter was signed by nine senior Congress leaders, including Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh, the party’s general secretary in charge of communications.
“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.