Congress Criticizes Election Commission for Delaying Haryana Polls, BJP Defends Decision

New Delhi, India – Congress MP Manickam Tagore criticized the Election Commission for postponing the Haryana Assembly polls, accusing the commission of favoring the BJP. Tagore stated, “Not only ED and CBI but now Election Commission has also started to work for the BJP. It’s very unfortunate that the Election Commission, for a political party’s demand, has pushed the date back and it shows that the BJP is afraid of the defeat in Haryana.”

Deepak Babaria, AICC in-charge of Haryana, mentioned that the delay would not affect Congress’ preparations. He said, “BJP had issues. They were running the government for 10 years through adhocism, they set the dates through the same adhocism…later the dates were changed. But in this process, the affected the entire administration, voters and timetable…This won’t affect us at all. We see this as nothing else but their failure.”

Congress leader Ajay Maken also commented, saying, “We are ready. We were ready to earlier too. We are prepared even if the elections take place tomorrow. BJP wants to postpone the elections in some or the other way due to anti-incumbency. We are ready. We will win comfortably.”

The Election Commission of India (ECI) revised the polling day for Haryana Assembly polls from October 1 to October 5 and moved the counting of votes for both Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana Assemblies from October 4 to October 8. The ECI explained that the change was due to the annual festival in Bikaner district, Rajasthan, which would see many families traveling, thus affecting their voting rights.

BJP leader Anil Vij defended the EC’s decision, criticizing Congress for their reaction. He said, “This reflects the commitment of BJP to the democracy in India and providing opportunities for people to vote in large numbers. On the part of Congress, it reflects that they are running away. If you (Congress) do not like this process, sit at home and don’t cast your vote. Let those who like the process, vote…What rigging it is if dates have been revised? The dates have been revised in the interest of people.”

Former Haryana Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the move reflects BJP’s acknowledgment of an impending electoral loss. He stated, “It is the Election Commission’s right, they have extended the date. They (BJP) have already accepted defeat in Haryana. When the Haryana government wrote a letter to the Election Commission, I had said at that time that the BJP had accepted defeat.”