Political blame game erupts in Haryana
While chief minister Nayab Singh Saini lashed out at Rahul accusing him of trying to mislead the country with his “lies”, Congress Legislature Party leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the election commission should answer questions raised by Rahul regarding “vote theft”
A political blame game erupted in Haryana on Wednesday after leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi alleged “duplicate, fake and bulk” voting in the 2024 state assembly elections. The BJP had won 48 seats in the 90-member House and formed the government. The Congress has 37 seats.
While chief minister Nayab Singh Saini lashed out at Rahul accusing him of trying to mislead the country with his “lies”, Congress Legislature Party leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the election commission should answer questions raised by Rahul regarding “vote theft”.
“Rahul is trying to mislead the country. The Congress always worked towards pushing the country back,” said Saini while speaking to reporters in Panchkula. When specifically asked about Rahul’s allegations, the CM said: “Today, I do not want to make any comments. When the time comes, I will certainly speak, as they lack any issue.”
Rahul, while making the allegations, cited electoral roll data to claim that 25 lakh entries were fake and accused the EC of colluding with the BJP to ensure the saffron party’s victory.
Haryana BJP affairs in-charge Satish Poonia also hit back at Rahul accusing him of trying to divert attention from his party’s “internal disarray” by levelling baseless allegations of “vote theft” against the BJP.
Poonia said Rahul’scampaign had failed to make an impact in the state. “Rahul toured Haryana, yet the Congress lost. He has failed to manage his party in Haryana and across the country,” he said.
“Had the Congress worked in the national interest instead of indulging in vote-bank politics and dividing people along caste and religious lines, the party would not have reached this level of decline,” he said, adding that the party should accept its downfall and stop misleading people with irresponsible statements.
Rahul trying to hide his failures: Badoli
Haryana BJP president Mohan Lal Badoli said that by levelling baseless allegations against the BJP, the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was only trying to hide his own “failures” and divert public attention.
“Rahul Gandhi is attempting to conceal his failures. In his fake press conference today, he narrated stories about Haryana ahead of the Bihar polls. The elections are in Bihar and he is sitting in Delhi talking about Haryana,” Badoli said in a statement.
EC must clarify: Hooda
Hooda, while addressing a press conference, said the allegations made by Rahul were bound to raise questions about the ECs impartiality. “The EC should perform its duties impartially. We have repeatedly said that elections should be conducted using ballot papers. In the 2024 Haryana assembly polls, the Congress was leading in 73 seats during the ballot paper counting, but fell behind in the EVM counting. The results of the last five elections show that this has never happened before,” Hooda said.
“The Election Commission reported 61.19 % polling on polling day. Then, on October 6, it reported 65.65% voting. On October 7, it reported 67.9% voting. How did the vote count increase overnight? An average of 15,175 votes were increase in each assembly constituency,” Hooda pointed out.
The former CM said that thousands of people have votes both in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. These included BJP leaders and workers. An old two-story house was even shown as house number 0, Hooda said.
A well-planned robbery of democracy: AAP
Blaming the BJP and the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday said that the 2024 Haryana assembly election was a well-planned robbery of democracy.
“BJP’s so-called victory was not the mandate of the people but the result of fake votes, administrative manipulation, and the arrogance of Congress,” AAP national media in-charge Anurag Dhanda said in a statement.
Dhanda said that if the Haryana Congress had set aside its ego and agreed to an alliance with AAP before the assembly elections, this fraud would not have been possible. Congress refused the alliance and handed BJP an open field, he said.
“AAP had repeatedly warned that fake voters, captured booths and misuse of officials would damage democracy in Haryana, but the Congress ignored every warning,’’ he further added.
He said that the role of the Election Commission in the 2024 assembly election raises questions. “Every complaint was suppressed, no investigation was allowed and BJP was given a free hand. People of Haryana are asking whether the Election Commission was neutral or working as a partner of the BJP. When institutions responsible for protecting democracy bend under pressure, elections become a joke. This is exactly what happened in Haryana,’’ the AAP leader said.
Abhay Chautala slams BJP, Cong
INLD national president Abhay Singh Chautala on Wednesday said that the BJP and the Congress were two sides of the same coin. “The Congress taught vote rigging and BJP perfected it,” he alleged.
Launching a scathing attack on Congress leader and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the former minister accused him of orchestrating vote theft during the 2016 Rajya Sabha polls referring to the alleged ink scandal, where pens were allegedly swapped to invalidate votes.
