Chandigarh (Haryana) [India], March 17 : Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda on Monday asserted that the party won the Rajya Sabha seats in Haryana despite the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) allegedly resorting to illegal means to tilt the results in their favour.
Hooda expressed his gratitude to party workers for standing firm under pressure while accusing the ruling party of attempting to "strangle democracy" to win a single legislative seat.
Deepender Singh Hooda, while speaking to the reporters, said, "BJP tried every single illicit method... They made Gujarat's Dy CM the Observer, strangled democracy just for a Rajya Sabha seat, but I congratulate the workers of the party for working under every kind of pressure, and this seat went in favour of the Congress... 4 valid votes were wrongly deemed invalid..."
Meanwhile, 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.
On the other hand, 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.
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