ECI rejects Cong’s complaint about delay in updating Haryana poll result trends
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh requested “immediate directions” to update the website with accurate figures so that “false news and malicious narratives can be countered”
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday “unequivocally” rejected an attempt to “surreptitiously give credence to irresponsible, unfounded and uncorroborated malafide narratives” after the Congress complained about “inordinate and unacceptable” in updating the Haryana assembly election trends on the poll body’s website.
“There is nothing on record to substantiate your ill-founded allegation of slowdown in updating results,” the ECI said. It pointed out Congress leader Jairam Ramesh’s memorandum over the alleged delay did not provide evidence in any specific constituencies.
The ECI said the Congress raised a similar concern on June 4 when the national elections results were announced. It underlined the counting process was being conducted in the presence of candidates, observers, and micro-observers. “Approximately 25 rounds across all the constituencies are being updated every five minutes.”
The ECI’s response came as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appeared set to retain power in Haryana for a third time even as exit polls suggested the Congress would form the government in the north Indian state.
In an “Urgent Memorandum” addressed to the chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar and commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, Ramesh complained there was an unexplained slowdown in updating of trends on the ECI’s website over two hours between 9-11am.
Ramesh said delay allows “bad faith actors” to “spin narratives” resulting in undermining of the electoral 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, ie in most of the counting centres,” he said.
Ramesh requested the ECI to issue “immediate directions” to officials to update the website with true and accurate figures so that “false news and malicious narratives can be countered immediately.”
In a separate post on X, Ramesh said, “Like the Lok Sabha elections, in Haryana we are again witnessing slowing down of uploading up-to-date trends on the ECI website. Is the BJP trying to build pressure on administration by sharing outdated and misleading trends?”
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera echoed Ramesh’s concerns. “The EC data is lagging behind. They are still showing the 4th or 5th found data while 11 rounds have been counted. Our General Secretary of Communications [Ramesh] has tweeted to the Election Commission. In J&K, you are getting live data with every round counted, but in Haryana, it is not so.”