National: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has categorically rejected the Congress' claim of delay in the release of the 2024 Haryana Assembly election results. In a strongly worded statement, the EC confirmed that the results of about 25 counties across all states were being updated every five minutes, reflecting the rapid expansion of the census process.

EC says Congress allegations are 'baseless'

The EC criticised Congress for trying to create doubts about the move, calling it “irresponsible and unfounded”. The commission reminded the Congress that similar baseless allegations were made during the Lok Sabha elections in June. He was assured that the counting of votes would transparently take place in the presence of candidates and observers by the prescribed rules.

"In view of the above, I am directed to convey that the Commission unequivocally rejects your attempt to surreptitiously give credence to irresponsible, unfounded and uncorroborated malafide narratives," the ECI said.

"The Cornmission categorically responded that counting of votes is being carried out as per Rule 60 of Conduct of Election Rules at the designated counting ceutres and by the designated authorities following the Statutory and Regulatory regime."

Image Source : EC responds to Congress' Jairam Ramesh’s memorandum on display of election results

Congress raises concerns

Earlier, Congress’ Jairam Ramesh raised concerns as to why only four and five rounds were updated on the EC website despite the results of 10-11 rounds. He also criticised the spread of obsolescence. Senior Congress leader Kumari Selja echoed these concerns, questioning the speed of the count.

"As you can imagine this allows bad faith actors to spin narratives that undermine the process. You can see examples of it already playing out on social media. Our fear is also that such narratives can then be used by these mala fide actors to influence processes where counting is still underway i.e. in most of the counting centres. We request you to issue immediate directions to your officials to update the website with true and accurate figures so that false news and malicious narratives can be countered immediately," he said.

BJP's response

In response, BJP's Sudhanshu Trivedi interpreted the Congress' complaint as a quick admission of defeat and claimed that they were trying to get ahead of their expected loss in Haryana.

The EC reaffirmed that all procedures were followed to ensure transparency and fairness in the audit process.