Former chief minister and Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the Election Commission failed to fulfill its responsibility impartially, and the BJP formed the government through vote theft. He said revelations made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi have made it clear that the BJP and the Commission have jointly disrespected the public mandate.
Responding to questions from reporters at his Chandigarh residence, Hooda said the voter list was deeply flawed. “In addition to the Brazilian model, 223 votes were registered for a single woman at one booth. The photographs of 1.22 lakh voters were found to be fake,” he claimed.
“When the media itself investigated after Rahul Gandhi's revelations, all the allegations were found to be true. Votes were registered for 501 people in a 300-yard house owned by a BJP leader, even though only seven people live there. Showing photographs, Rahul Gandhi explained that some people have registered their votes in both Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, and they are close to the BJP,” he stated.
Hooda said irregularities detected in the voter list have shaken public confidence in the Election Commission. “Therefore, the Congress party has resolved to protect democracy and will take every possible step to do so,” he added.
He said that after the voting on October 5, 2024, the Election Commission reported a voter turnout of 61.19 per cent in Haryana. “On the 6th, this figure was increased to 65.65 percent, and on the 7th, the figure was revised again to 65.9 percent. Will the Election Commission answer how the vote count was increasing automatically for three consecutive days? How did the counting of votes cast through EVMs take such a long time in this era of fast internet and telecom revolution?” he questioned.
“That is why, as soon as the election results were announced, we immediately went to the Election Commission and filed a complaint. We have repeatedly appealed for elections to be held using ballot papers, as everyone saw that Congress was winning 73 seats in the postal ballot count, but was reduced to 37 seats in the EVM count. The results of the last five elections show that the party that wins the postal ballot count forms the government,” he stated.
Hooda said Congress is not only talking about Haryana but about the entire country, the Constitution, and democracy. “If the Election Commission does not act impartially, people's democratic rights will be nullified. However, Congress will not allow the people's democratic rights to be violated. Therefore, protests will be held across the state against vote theft. The party is preparing a blueprint for this,” he said.
Speaking on the issue of law and order, the former Chief Minister said crime is at its peak in Haryana today. “More than 60 gangs of criminals are active, committing crimes like murder, robbery, extortion, loot, and kidnapping. The police, who are supposed to protect the people, are themselves not safe,” he said.
“Today, another police officer was killed. Prior to this, an ADGP and ASI-level officer committed suicide. It's been a month since that case, but the investigation hasn't revealed anything. Meaning, the case has been put on hold in the name of investigation,” he pointed out.
“From day one, we demanded a CBI investigation into the ADGP and ASI case under the supervision of a sitting judge, but the government refused to accept the demand. The government's intentions were revealed that day itself,” he stated.
Hooda said that a report published today revealed that Haryana is the worst in terms of response to the government-issued women's helpline number. Only 5% of calls made by women were responded to, he said.
He also said the BJP’s plan to provide Rs 2,100 to women has been exposed. “During the elections, a promise was made to give Rs 2,100 to all women, but later conditions were imposed which excluded most women from the beneficiary category,” he said.
“At the time of the elections, the government declared 80% of Haryana's population as BPL and issued ration cards for them, but as soon as they came to power, their ration cards are being cancelled again. This means that the BJP has betrayed the public at every step,” he added.
Speaking on the issue of farmers, Hooda said scams are continuously taking place in the name of paddy procurement. “The investigation report of the last scam that was exposed has not yet been released, and another scam has been exposed in Karnal. This scam is not limited to Karnal, but is happening throughout Haryana, as no farmer is receiving the MSP for their crops,” he stated.
He said the BJP government is neither providing MSP to farmers, nor compensation, nor fertilizer. Farmers are being made to stand in lines to receive fertilizer and are being labeled criminals. “This is an insult to the food providers,” he stated.
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