Now Congress cries foul polls

He exhorted Lyngdoh to remove by October 1 the discrepancies that were apparently evident in the second phase polls. Hashmi expressed hope the CEC would scrutinise the complaints the Opposition had forwarded. He said there were largescale complaints that NC, aided by the state machinery, used mobile voters to rig polls.

Unlike the first phase polls which were largely free and fair and held within EC norms, in the second phase the EC machinery got paralysed, Hashmi said. The police and the administration exploited EC inertness to help NC, he said. According to Hashmi, the polling staff did not distribute voter slips and in some instances changed the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

Three days have elapsed, yet the EC has not taken any action on the widespread Opposition complaints, he said. ‘‘I am going to Delhi today to apprise the EC about the discrepancies.’’