India's BJP set to win Haryana vote in boost for Modi, Congress rejects outcome

10/10/2024 12:58

        India's main opposition Congress party has complained to the election panel about concerns regarding the counting of votes in state elections in Haryana won by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
        
        The partial rejection of the outcome, which gave the BJP 48 state constituencies against 37 for the Congress, was unusual in the world's most populous democracy, where the credibility of elections has rarely been questioned in recent decades.
        
        The Congress, projected by exit polls to win the election in the northern breadbasket state, had said earlier it would not accept the "totally unexpected, completely surprising and counter-intuitive" result.
        
        Senior Congress leaders who met the Election Commission of India (ECI) said they told it of complaints from 20 of the state's 90 constituencies, and had been assured their concerns would be looked into.
        
        The party said in a statement on Wednesday, "The Election Commission was handed over written complaints from seven constituencies while the remaining complaints will be submitted in another two days."
        
        In a letter to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge that day, the election panel said the Congress's rejection infringed the norms of free speech.