Alleging an inordinate delay in updating results of the Haryana Assembly elections on the Election Commission of India (ECI) website and application, Congress urged the poll panel to issue directions to its officials to update the website with “true and accurate” figures.

In his memorandum addressed to the Chief Election Commisioner and Election Commissioners issued on Tuesday, Congress general secretary in charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh wrote: “Respected Sirs,
Over the last two hours between 9-11 AM, there has been an unexplained slowdown in updating of results on the ECI’s website.”

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“As you can imagine this allows bad-faith actors to spin narratives that undermine the process. You can see examples of it already playing out on social media. Our fear is also that such narratives can then be used by these mala fide actors to influence processes where counting is still underway i.e. in most of the counting centres.”

The Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha told the EC, “We request you to issue immediate directions to your officials to update the website with true and accurate figures so that false news and malicious narratives can be countered immediately.”

Earlier in a post on X, he wrote, “Like the Lok Sabha elections, in Haryana, we are again witnessing slowing down of uploading up-to-date trends on the ECI website. Is the BJP trying to build pressure on the administration by sharing outdated and misleading trends ECI?.”

The BJP seemed to retain the power in Haryana as it has crossed the halfway mark. The saffron party maintained a lead ahead of the Opposition Congress when the counting of the votes was underway in the state along with Jammu and Kashmir amid tight security arrangements.

The BJP, which has extensively campaigned in the state under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, is leading in 48 Assembly constituencies according to the trends.

The Congress party, which fought the elections under the leadership of its former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is leading on 37 seats.

According to the poll panel trends, Independent candidates are leading in three seats, and the INLD and the BSP in one seat each.

Former Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij expressed confidence that the BJP would sweep the polls.