New Delhi [India], March 17 : A Congress delegation of three members, including Syed Naseer Hussain, Varun Chowdhary, and Satyapal Brahmachari, met with the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar after the counting of votes was halted for two vacant Rajya Sabha seats in Chandigarh.
Speaking to reporters, Syed Naseer Hussain said that they approached the Chief Election Commissioner to lodge a complaint regarding alleged irregularities in the Haryana Rajya Sabha elections, calling for the footage of the polling be sent to them, and
"Today, in Haryana, the Rajya Sabha election was taking place. We came to the Chief Election Commissioner to lodge our complaint regarding the alleged irregularities being carried out by the Election Commission in this election. Varun Chowdhary is a Member of Parliament from Ambala, Satyapal Brahmachari is a Member of Parliament from Sonipat, and I am from Karnataka. The three of us came to meet him in the evening. Abhishek Manu Singhvi and his entire legal team also tried to meet him," he said on Monday.
"Today, the election was held in Haryana. Two of our (Congress) MLAs have been allegedly targeted in a conspiracy to invalidate their votes. When they went to cast their votes, no one raised any objection, and when they came out after voting, there was still no objection. However, after the voting was completed, someone filed an application claiming that our (Congress) MLAs had shown their votes to someone. We want to emphasise that the entire process conducted by the Election Commission, including the voting, was being recorded on CCTV cameras. We demand that the CCTV footage be sent to the Central Election Commission so that the matter can be thoroughly investigated," he added.
Amid a halt in counting for the Rajya Sabha elections in Haryana following objections over certain votes, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday wrote to the Election Commission of India alleging an attempt to interfere with the integrity of the ongoing election process.
In his letter to the poll body, Kharge stated that there was a "clear attempt to interfere with the integrity of the election" and urged the Commission to take immediate action.
Kharge requested the Election Commission to grant immediate time for a Congress delegation led by Abhishek Manu Singhvi, along with senior party leaders, to meet the Commission before the declaration of the results.
"There is a clear attempt to interfere with the integrity of the election and it must be stopped/ redressed by the ECI immediately. Furthermore, no disqualification of our legitimate voters/ votes cast can be allowed in what is clearly a transparent attempt to taint/derail the process. Given the time sensitive nature of the matter, we request time immediately for a delegation led by Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi along with senior leaders from the party to meet your good self before the declaration of the results. We have copied Shri. Omar Hoda, National Coordinator from the AICC's Law Department for ease of communication," the letter from Kharge said.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in the Haryana Assembly Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that permission from the Election Commission would be required before the counting process could begin. "Permission needs to be taken from the Election Commission before starting the counting," he told reporters.
Voting for the Rajya Sabha elections was halted after objections were raised over two votes cast by Congress legislators. BJP leaders Gaurav Gautam and Kishan Bedi objected to the two votes. Congress has also objected to the vote cast by Haryana Minister Anil Vij. The counting process has been halted for a long time amid the objections. Gautam is serving as the polling agent for the BJP, while Bedi is the party's election agent.