Congress’s Jairam Ramesh alleges ‘misleading trends’ of Haryana vote counting on ECI website

NEW DELHI: Congress General Secretary in-charge of Communications, Jairam Ramesh, has alleged that there is a slowing down in uploading up-to-date trends in the Haryana Assembly election’s vote counting on the Election Commission website.

He asked whether the BJP trying to build pressure on the administration by sharing “outdated and misleading” trends.”We are filing a memorandum… we are lodging a complaint. We hope that the EC will answer our questions. The results of 10-11 rounds are already out, but only 4-5 rounds have been updated on EC website. This is a tactic to pressure the administration”, Ramesh said.

“There is no need to be disheartened. The game is not over. Mind games are being played. We will not be deterred, there is no need to be disheartened. We are going to get the mandate. Congress is going to form the government”, he added.

#WATCH | #HaryanaAssemblyPolls2024 | Delhi: Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications, Jairam Ramesh says, “We are filing a memorandum in the next 5-7 minutes. We are lodging a complaint. We hope that the EC will answer our questions. The results of 10-11 rounds are… pic.twitter.com/yCQwNJ9CG0

— ANI (@ANI) October 8, 2024

Earlier in the day, in a post on X, he 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 Is the BJP trying to build pressure on administration by sharing outdated and misleading trends”.

Ramesh has also written to the Election Commission, requesting to issue immediate directions to officials to update the website with “true and accurate figures”. “Over the last two hours between 9-11 am, there has been an unexplained slowdown in updating of results on the ECI’s website “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,” he wrote. “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 wroted.

As per the trends posted by the Election Commission at 12 noon, the BJP was leading on 49 seats while the Congress led on 35 seats. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) were seen to be leading with one seat each while Independents and smaller parties were leading in four seats.

Though exit polls had predicted Congress’s victory in the election, the BJP is poised for a hattrick win in the Assembly election of the State. According to the latest update from the Election Commission, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini led from the Ladwa constituency.

As of 12 noon, Saini led with 32,708 votes over Congress’ Mewa Singh. Bhupinder Singh Hooda was seen leading from the Garhi Sampla-Kiloi seat with 56,875 votes over his nearest rival from BJP Manju. (ANI)