Senior Congress leaders to talk to Haryana candidates; panel to attend CLP meet

New Delhi: The Congress leadership has told its senior leaders to talk to all its candidates in the Haryana assembly polls and submit a report on the reasons behind the party's defeat and technical assessment of the EVM batteries during counting of votes.

Sources said the party has also tasked its senior leaders to be observers at the meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in Haryana to elect its new leader.

The sources said former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, AICC treasurer Ajay Maken and Punjab CLP leader Partap Singh Bajwa have been appointed as central observers at the meeting in Haryana later this week to elect the new state CLP leader.

The observers have also been asked to speak with all the MLAs and seek their opinion on who their new leader should be.

Another fact-finding committee has been set up by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. The fact-finding technical committee includes former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, former Rajasthan minister Harish Chaudhary and party leader S Senthil. They are already in Haryana to ascertain the reasons of defeat.

AICC general secretary K C Venugopal has said the committee will submit a report on the reasons of defeat and technical issues after speaking to all candidates.

"We have sent a technical team to Haryana to study the happenings on counting day. They are visiting all the booths and will return after speaking to all candidates and provide a report of everything," he said.

Venugopal also expressed surprise over the chief election commissioner's (CEC's) remarks of "giving a clean chit to itself" on the issue of "discrepancies" in EVM batteries even without holding a proper inquiry.

"Even former election commissioners during the BJP tenure are seeking an inquiry into the allegations made by us, but the EC (Election Commission) is giving a clean chit even without a probe," he said.

The Congress had complained to the EC about "discrepancies" in the battery of EVMs during counting for Haryana assembly polls on October 8.

The opposition party has also presented complaints of its leaders in at least 20 assembly constituencies about the alleged discrepancies. The leaders alleged that the EVMs showed a battery of over 90 to 99 per cent in which the BJP candidates fared well.

The Congress candidates have claimed that they got more votes in those EVMs where the battery was less than 90 per cent.

The Congress failed to wrest power in Haryana despite the BJP's 10 years of rule and bagged only 37 of the 90 seats, while the ruling party improved its performance to 48 seats.

The Congress' vote share was 39.09 percent against the BJP's 39.94 per cent.