A day after facing a severe drubbing in Bihar, the Congress on Saturday questioned the role of the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the poll process while its top leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, went into a huddle to discuss the poll outcome.
Kharge and Rahul were joined by AICC general secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal, party treasurer Ajay Maken and AICC Bihar in-charge Krishna Allavaru, sources said. Responding to Congress’s allegations on social media, Election Commission officials said three lakh voters were added to Bihar’s electoral roll after the publication of the final list post the special intensive revision.
They were responding to a social media post by Congress, which pointed out that while the EC’s statement announcing the schedule for the Bihar assembly polls had put the number of voters at 7.42 crore, in subsequent releases, the number climbed to 7.45 crore. According to the sources, the leaders met to discuss the Congress’s poor performance in Bihar, where the party won only six of the 61 seats it contested, its second-worst show in the state after 2010, when it won only four seats. Rahul did not speak to the media persons after the meeting, as the leaders of the Mahagathbandhan, of which the Congress is a part, remained in a state of disbelief after the NDA swept the polls. Asked about the Bihar poll outcome and the party’s poor performance, Venugopal sought to put the entire blame on the Election Commission, alleging that the entire poll process is questionable and there is no transparency. The party would soon analyse the result and would come out with concrete proof in the next few weeks, he said.
“This result that has come from Bihar is unbelievable for all of us. This is not only for Congress. The entire people are not believing it, and also our alliance partners. We discussed with all of them; they do not believe it,” Venugopal said. “Because, a 90 per cent plus strike rate for a political party, which has not happened in Indian history. We are doing a thorough analysis; we are collecting data from across Bihar. Within one or two weeks, we will come out with concrete proof,” he told reporters.
Alleging that the process of electioneering is “completely questionable”, he said the party leaders have been continuously raising the issue during electioneering. Asked about Rahul Gandhi’s comments calling the election “not fair”, Venugopal said, “We have been talking about the Election Commission (role) and we talked about this during the Haryana elections - that the Haryana election is rigged”.
The EC officials said the figure of 7.42 crore voters mentioned in the October 6 statement was based on final electoral roll published on September 30 after the special intensive revision.
Citing election rules, they pointed out that any eligible citizen can apply to have their name added to the electoral roll until 10 days before the last date for filing of nominations for each phase of poll after the announcement of elections. “Therefore, after examining all valid applications received from October 1 until 10 days before the last date of nominations in both phases, the names of eligible voters were added to the list as per the rules, so that no eligible voter is deprived of voting,” an official said.
The number of voters increased by approximately three lakh following inclusion of applications received from October 1 until 10 days before the last date of nominations.
