New Delhi, Oct 19: The campaign team of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who on Wednesday conceded defeat to Mallikarjun Kharge in the party presidential poll, had written to the party’s chief election authority, flagging ‘extremely serious irregularities’ in the conduct of the election in Uttar Pradesh, sources said.
Besides demanding that all votes from Uttar Pradesh be deemed invalid, Tharoor’s campaign team had also raised “serious issues” in the conduct of the election in Punjab and Telangana.
In his letter to Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry, Tharoor’s chief election agent Salman Soz had said the facts are “damning” and the election process in Uttar Pradesh is “devoid of credibility and integrity”, they said.
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He said after a detailed discussion with polling agents, Tharoor’s team is constrained to report “disturbing facts”.
Soz conveyed to Mistry that what has been witnessed in Uttar Pradesh is an open challenge to the authority of “your office” as well as contempt for the orders of the Congress president and the Congress Working Committee to hold free and fair elections.
“We would like to underline that we have no evidence that Kharge ji was aware of how his supporters were engaging in electoral malpractice in Uttar Pradesh. We are certain that if he was aware, he would never allow what happened in Uttar Pradesh,” Soz said in his letter, according to sources.
“He (Kharge) would not allow the tainting of an election that is so important for the Indian National Congress,” Soz was quoted as saying in the letter.
The “irregularities” in Uttar Pradesh flagged by Tharoor’s team include use of unofficial seals for ballot boxes, presence of unofficial persons in polling booths, voting malpractice, no polling summary sheet, presence of AICC secretaries in-charge of Uttar Pradesh.
“We do not see how this election can be deemed free and fair if the tainted process of Uttar Pradesh is allowed to stand. We, therefore, demand that all votes from Uttar Pradesh be deemed invalid,” the letter dated October 18 said, according to the sources.
Tharoor’s team said it suspects “voter fraud” in this election, alleging that there were delegates who were not present in the Lucknow area on the day of voting and their votes were cast. There were complaints from people about not being allowed to cast their votes since others had already cast their votes, the letter said.
“When our agents complained about voter malpractice, supporters of the other side would come inside the polling booth and create a ruckus and start threatening our polling agents,” Soz alleged, according to sources.
Noting that Tharoor did not contest this election to accept business as usual, Soz said his team is ready to fight for the integrity of this election.
“Winning or losing matters little given that both contestants are part of the same family. However, it matters greatly to our campaign, our volunteers, and our supporters, that we ensure that the Indian National Congress emerges stronger after this election,” Soz said, according to sources.
“It can only do so if we are able to certify the integrity of this election,” he added.
Team Tharoor said no election process can be perfect and it understands that. It pointed out that it accepted the numerous violations of the CEA guidelines by AICC (All India Congress Committee) and PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) leaders.
“We kept quiet in the party’s interest when we saw unjust and unfair treatment that prevented us from operating on a level playing field. We took it upon ourselves to protect the party’s public image when so many of our colleagues were doing things contrary to the directions of the Congress president and the public statements of Rahul Gandhi ji,” Soz was quoted as saying the letter.
“However, this can no longer continue. It is not just our campaign’s job to protect the party’s image. Others will now have to step up and do their part. We will hold them accountable,” he added.
Tharoor’s team said it does not see how this election can be deemed free and fair if the “tainted” process of Uttar Pradesh is allowed to stand.
“We, therefore, demand that all votes from Uttar Pradesh be deemed invalid,” their letter said.
In a separate letter to Mistry, Tharoor’s team also raised serious issues in the conduct of the election in Punjab and Telangana.
In that letter, Tharoor’s team alleged that “unethical process” was followed for distributing delegate cards in Punjab and presence of Pradesh Congress Committee chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring inside the polling booth on a regular basis for the entire period of polling and “allowing bogus voting”.
“The PPCC chief threatened our agent…It is pertinent to mention that we objected to around nine instances of unauthorised persons who were trying to vote, but no action was taken against them,” Soz said.
They also raised issues in Telangana pertaining to the changes made to the list of delegates and conduct of the office bearers of the PCC.
Tharoor had repeatedly raised the issue of uneven playing field in the polls but maintained that Gandhis had assured him of neutrality.
Of the total 9,915 Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates that formed the electoral college to pick the party chief in a secret ballot, over 9,500 cast their ballot at PCC offices and the AICC headquarters on Monday. (PTI)
