"Against ground reality...not possible for us to accept": Congress rejects Haryana assembly results, says will move EC

New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday rejected assembly results in Haryana which showed BJP is poised to form its third successive government in the state, saying the outcome is "totally unexpected, completely surprising, counter-intuitive and against ground-reality and that "it is not possible" for the party "to accept the results".
Addressing a media briefing on the results in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, party leaders Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera said they have received "very serious complaints" on the process of counting and they will move the Election Commission.
The Congress is set finish a distant second in the assembly polls and is slated to win 37 seats with BJP poised to win 48 seats in the 90-member Haryana assembly.
Jairam Ramesh said "what we have seen today in Haryana is a victory for manipulation, a victory for subverting the will of the people and it is a defeat for transparent democratic processes"
"The results in Haryana are totally unexpected, completely surprising and counter-intuitive. It goes against ground reality. It goes against what the people of Haryana had made their minds up for, which was for change and transformation. I think under these circumstances, it is not possible for us to accept the results that have been announced today," he said. .
"We have received very serious complaints on the process of counting, the functioning of EVMs in at least three districts. There are more that are coming in. We have spoken to our senior colleagues in Haryana and this information is being collected. We hope to present this in a consolidated form to the Election Commission tomorrow or the day after. We will seek time...Serious questions have been raised by our candidates. We will bring it to the notice of the Election Commission," he added.
Pawan Khera said they are surprised and no one can believe that "such an unexpected result" will come in Haryana. He said the party cannot accept such an outcome.
"If it is said in one line, this is the victory of the system and the defeat of democracy. We cannot accept this...We are collecting complaints. Our candidates have given complaints to the returning officers there and are still giving them. In the coming days, we will soon go to the Election Commission with all these complaints and register our complaint there. This kind of result was not visible anywhere on the ground. No one can believe that such an unexpected result will come in Haryana. We are all surprised," Khera said.
Jairam Ramesh also referred to the results in Jammu and Kashmir where the National Conference-Congress alliance is poised for a majority in the assembly.
"The chapter on Haryana is not complete, it will continue. The chapter in Jammu and Kashmir, of course, there will be a coalition government. And as I said till yesterday, various attempts were being made to ensure that the majority will not come to the Congress-NC coalition but the people of Jammu and Kashmir have given a very clear mandate for this coalition government," he said.
Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera said they were not questioning the entire outcome but results in seats where there are complaints.
Proving wrong predictions of exit polls, BJP is poised for its biggest victory in Haryana polls with the Hindi heartland state seemingly turning into one of its bastions. The Congress, which was seen to be having advantage of anti-incumbency and was seen to be ahead in the perception battle, fumbled again.
BJP leaders said that it was "pro-incumbency" for their government in Haryana based on the work it had done in the past 10 years.
While the Congress improved its vote share in Haryana compared to the last assembly elections but so did the BJP. While BJP got 39.90 per cent votes, Congress got 39.10 per cent.
Even as the trends showed that BJP was ahead by a margin of 15 seats in Haryana, Congress leaders insisted that the party will see a surge in the last rounds of counting. They claimed that the Election Commission was not updating its website on realtime basis.
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, who won from Ladwa, greeted BJP workers and leaders at his residence in Kurukshetra following party's impressive performance in the polls.
"I want to thank the 2.80 crore people of Haryana for putting a stamp on the works of BJP for the third time. All this is only because of PM Modi. Under his leadership, we are moving forward. He spoke to me and gave his blessings. I had faith that the poor, farmers and the youth of Haryana would bless me," he said.
Union Minister and former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said people have rejected Congress.
"People have given this message that the policies of PM Modi had a positive impact on the people of the state. This is a record in Haryana that a party has come to power for the third time," he said.
"The issue (of election) was that the work we have done for Haryana's wrestlers, farmers, youth, Congress could never do that. I just want to say that the credit for this victory goes to our party workers and the people of the state. Our CM already said 'Ek din aaega jab janta degi jawaab aur yeh (Congress) ek hi baat kahenge ki EVM kharab,'" he added.