Congress to move Election Commission on irregularities in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh polls

NEW DELHI: Congress will approach Election Commission tomorrow to complain against alleged irregularities during polling in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

A party delegation led AICC general secretary in-charge for Madhya Pradesh Mohan Prakash, Congress campaign committee chief for Chhattisgarh Motilal Vora, MPCC chief Kantilal Bhuria, Madhya Pradesh CLP leader Ajay Singh and AICC secretary K C Mittal will meet Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath in this regard.

Mohan Prakash said there have also been malfunctioning of EVMs and despite these complaints having been brought to the attention of local authorities, no action was taken.

The delegation will also demand that postal ballot should be counted first.

In a meeting with the CEC on November 28, Chhattisgarh PCC chief Charan Das Mahant had told him that the proviso postal ballots could be received even one hour before the counting has created scope for candidates to tap postal voters even after polling is over.

"This opens scope for pressure tactics and manipulation. In closely contested elections, where the margins are often in two or three digits, this can make a lot of difference...To counter such allegations, it is requested that postal ballots be counted before the EVM votes are counted," Mahant had said.

The two-BJP states, where Congress is out of power for last 10 years, has witnessed a direct contest between Congress and BJP.