Anand shows video to say RS polls were rigged

Independent candidate also files police complaint against Subash Chandra, Election Commission official & 2 BJP MLAs

Doubts have been raised over the presence of BJP MLA Aseem Goyal (circled in this TV grab), who was present at the polling station.

The controversy over the elections to two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana escalated on Saturday as R.K. Anand, one of the defeated candidates, released a video recording to prove that the BJP had rigged the polls.

Mr. Anand, an Independent candidate with Congress backing, also filed a police complaint against the winning candidate Subash Chandra, an official of the Election Commission and two BJP MLAs. The footage Mr. Anand shared with journalists at his residence was taken from the polling station on June 11, when the legislators cast their votes to elect two Rajya Sabha representatives. Mr. Anand pointed to a visual showing Aseem Goyal, a BJP MLA, walking towards the ballot box.

Charge against Goyal

To prove a point from the footage, he said Mr. Goel spent 47 seconds to mark his vote while other legislators did it in 4-5 seconds. “In the meantime, he replaced the violet colour sketch pen with another of royal blue,” Mr. Anand said. Mr. Goyal then stole away the authorized sketch pen and left the duplicate one at the ballot box.

In his complaint to the Haryana police, Mr. Anand said Mr. Subash Chandra had met the Returning Officer of the Election Commission a day before the polling. At the meeting, he said, Mr. Chandra “took photographs of that pen on his mobile phone and retained a paper having the marking of that pen.”

Mr. Anand said that as the “wrong” pen was planted by Mr. Chandra through Mr. Goyal, the votes of 12 Congress MLAs in his favour were annulled. Since it was hard to distinguish between violet and royal blue colours in a closed room, the Congress MLAs were unable to spot the error, he said.

The controversy also cast doubts on the conduct of the Congress MLAs whose votes were deemed invalid. Since they were led by senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was reportedly upset with the party leadership, there was speculation that Mr. Hooda was breaking away from the party. But Mr. Hooda rejected the claim.

Pradesh Congress Committee president Ashok Tanwar told The Hind u that Mr. Anand was fighting for the right cause and expressed hoped the EC would deliver “true justice.”