5 min readNew DelhiNov 24, 2024 07:37 AM IST
First published on: Nov 24, 2024 at 04:00 AM IST
STUNG hard by its defeat in Maharashtra, close on the heels of the setback in Assembly elections in Haryana, the Congress Saturday once again questioned the integrity of the electoral process, invoking Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and alleging “manipulation” and a “conspiracy” behind its rout.
After the defeat in Haryana last month, the Congress had, in an unprecedented move, declared that it would not accept the verdict, alleging there was a “conspiracy” hatched through “manipulation” of EVMs, a charge the Election Commission strongly denied.
On Saturday, hours after the MVA’s rout in Maharashtra, top leaders, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, said the verdict was “unexpected” and they would “analyse them in detail.” But the party, at a press conference, went many steps beyond this to allege “manipulation.”
Congress communication head Jairam Ramesh said the verdict was “inexplicable” and alleged that that the level-playing field was disturbed in a “targeted” manner as part of a conspiracy to defeat INDIA alliance.
However, the party hailed the result in Jharkhand, saying the people of the state have categorically rejected the BJP’s “politics of polarisation.”
“The Maharashtra Assembly poll result is apratayashit and inexplicable,” Ramesh said. The outcome, he said, has been brought about through a “targeted conspiracy after the level-playing field was disturbed in the state to defeat the Congress… Our morale is not down and we will strengthen the organisation and analyse the results.”
AICC media and publicity head Pawan Khera said it was surprising that the people of Maharashtra, who had defeated BJP in Lok Sabha polls have given 132 of 148 seats to it.
“We are provided a level playing field in Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Assembly by-elections…we were let (to) win there with an expectation that we will keep our mouth shut in Maharashtra… We will not keep quiet. Tactics are used only where BJP has to take advantage and level playing field is allowed at other places. We will keep raising questions on the election process whether we win or lose,” Khera said.
“In a country where examination papers get leaked, can we blindly trust the machine, election commission and election process there?” Khera said, adding: “You cannot shut our mouth by showing the results of Jharkhand”.
He said it has become common to revise the voting percentage upwards after polling is over. “You all have seen videos which surface in social media after every election which shows EVM machines in the vehicle of one BJP leader or other.. yesterday it happened in Nagpur…there are no answers. How can the EC sleep easily at night? Silence is not an answer, so it is our responsibility to raise such questions which trouble the BJP…We will keep on raising these issues because we care about democracy and the future generation of this country,” Khera said.
Said Ramesh: “We can say that winners too had not anticipated this result. We were sure that we will get the mandate. The public was with us. Farmers, the working class in Maharashtra, were upset and against the government. We believed that there was the same atmosphere as was four months back (during the Lok Sabha polls). But the results are opposite to expectations but that does not mean that we will go back on our agenda. The issues we raised in Maharashtra during the elections, we will revive the organisation on the basis of the same issues,” he said.
On claims that BJP won in Maharashtra because of micro-management, Ramesh said: “Micromanagement is equal to ground level manipulation and this is exactly what has happened. Each of our leaders has been targeted. It’s a targeted manipulation.”
Ramesh added that stakes of BJP and Prime Minister’s favourite business group were the maximum in Maharashtra.
“We were up against a machine which was manipulating on the ground. We were up against a machine that had deliberately targeted seat after seat after seat… total non-entities have won from the BJP. And senior leaders of Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena (UBT) have been targeted,” Ramesh said.
On EVMs, Ramesh said, “This is not matter with machine only. This is matter of process and manipulation is happening in process.”
In Mumbai, AICC in charge of Maharashtra Ramesh Chennithala said:
“How can we believe the Maharashtra assembly election results? There are problems of unemployment, inflation, and corruption. Have all these problems ended with the Majhi Ladki Bahin yojana? In the Lok Sabha polls, the people of Maharashtra had voted for Maha Vikas Aghadi. What has happened since then for such a change in results?”
On Saturday, hours after the MVA's rout in Maharashtra, top leaders, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, said the verdict was "unexpected” and they would “analyse them in detail.” (ANI Photo) 
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