Congress has lost faith in Election Commission: Assam-in-charge Jitendra Alwar

GUWAHATI: A top-rung leader of the Indian National Congress (INC) today expressed that the party has lost its faith in the Election Commission of India (ECI) and that the they will have to keep a 'check' on the poll body in the run-up to the counting of votes on May 2.

Jitendra Singh Alwar, the Assam in-charge of the party, today said that the party's leadership has lost its faith in the EC after several troubling incidents -- such as the discovery of EVM machines in a BJP leader's vehicle.

"We do not have any trust in the Election Commission. They did not take the right step by ordering repolling in only 4 booths; if it was fair, it would have ordered re-polling in the entire Constituency," Alwar said.

Debabrata Saikia, senior Congress leader and MLA representing Nazira, said that the Election Commission should have ordered re-polling in the Haflong Constituency in Dima Hasao due to "irregularities."

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According to officials, 171 votes were cast in a booth in Assam's Dima Hasao district, even though 90 people were eligible to exercise their franchise, revealing a massive irregularity.

"Our belief in them will remain intact if the counting is not done as it was done in Bihar," Debabrata Saikia added, alleging that the EC yielded to "pressure from a political party."

Several top-tier leaders of the Assam Congress today reached the luxurious Hotel Kiranshree Grand onthe outskirts of Guwahati city to discuss the way ahead even as preparations for the counting of votes for the Assam Assembly elections in 2021 are currently being made.

Alwar also asserted that "not a single" Mahajot candidate shall desert the coalition ahead of the counting and blamed the reports of "horse-trading" on the rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

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