Mumbai, Nov 29 (IANS): A Congress leader likened the Election Commission of India (ECI) to a ‘dog’ of Prime Minister Narendra Modi while the state party unit submitted a memorandum to the State Election Commission CEO on alleged irregularities in the recent Assembly elections here, on Friday.
Congress’s MLC and Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Ashok A. Jagtap, alias Bhai Jagtap created a flutter when he compared the ECI to a canine sitting outside the PM’s residence with all agencies being misused.
“This is an unexpected (polls) verdict. We cannot believe it… People in the state were totally against the (ruling) MahaYuti regime, but the entire credit for it goes to the EVMs. Yes… EVMs tampered… I will say hacked at some places,” said Jagtap.
Simultaneously, the state Congress President Nana F. Patole has shot off a letter to the SEC – CEO S. Chokalingam, raising several questions on the sudden spurt in the November 20 Assembly elections voting figures.
“Doubts are being raised at various levels on the 7.83 per cent increase in votes after the close of voting hours. Judging by the ECI’s figures, there should have been long queues outside polling stations after 5 p.m. that (November 20) day. Public sentiments are strong as there is a huge scam in this,” said Patole in the letter.
He demanded to know in how many constituencies – of the total 288 – were there long voters’ queues after 5 p.m., sought the release of evidence on this including video footage, etc.
Patole reiterated that as per official data of ECI, 65.2 per cent voting took place till 11.30 p.m. on November 20, but the next day (November 21), at 3 p.m., the figure went up to 66.05 per cent.
“From where has the 1.03 percentage discrepancy in the figures, that were officially released by ECI itself, come from? How did a whopping 999,359 votes increase in just one day? This is very serious and worrying, plus created suspicions in public minds, so it is the ECI’s duty to clarify all this,” urged Patole.
He called upon the ECI itself to step forward and throw light on the situation supported with other relevant evidence and provide satisfactory answers to help dispel the misgivings among the masses.