Congress's Haryana in-charge Deepak Babaria resigns after poll defeat

Taking moral responsibility for the Congress's defeat in the recent Haryana assembly elections, the party's state in-charge Deepak Babaria on Monday said he has submitted his resignation.

The election results, which contradicted exit poll predictions, dealt a blow to the party's hopes of a resurgence in the state.

"I offered to resign after the results. I informed the high command that, given my health and the election outcome, they could replace me if they deemed it appropriate," Babaria told PTI. He said he is still awaiting a response from the party leadership.

The Congress leadership, meanwhile, has held a review meeting to assess the reasons behind the defeat in Haryana. Sources claimed a fact-finding team has been formed to engage with the party’s candidates and determine the causes of the setback.

The party believes that the electronic voting machines (EVMs) were manipulated, as alleged by some candidates. Last week, a delegation of senior Congress leaders also met Election Commission of India (ECI) officials to raise concerns about alleged EVM irregularities.

They highlighted reports of some EVMs operating at 99 per cent battery capacity during vote counting, while others averaged between 60 and 70 per cent.

A fresh memorandum submitted by the Congress to the ECI has flagged alleged "irregularities" in the vote-counting process across 13 assembly seats in Haryana, the Indian Express reported.

Of these 13 seats, 12 were won by the BJP, while one went to the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). The memorandum notes that 11 of these assembly segments saw direct contests between the BJP and Congress, with one involving a face-off between INLD and Congress, and another pitting the BJP against an Independent candidate.

The BJP won 48 seats in the polls, thwarting the Congress’s comeback attempt. The Congress secured 37 seats in the 90-member assembly.