After its appalling defeat in Haryana, the Congress party's central leadership held a meeting on Thursday to analyse the reasons behind the outcome. The meeting took place at party president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence. Besides Rahul Gandhi, the party's Haryana observers Ashok Gehlot, Ajay Maken, Deepak Babaria and KC Venugopal were also present.
In the review meeting, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said that there were two issues that led to the party's dismal performance, News18 reported citing sources. As per Gandhi, the local leaders in Haryana were more interested in achieving their own goals rather than ensuring the party's win.
His attack was not just aimed at the Hoodas -- Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son Deepender Singh Hooda. B S Hooda and senior Dalit leader from the state Kumari Selja did not see eye to eye throughout the campaign.
Notably, former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and senior leaders Kumari Selja and Randeep Singh Surjewala were absent from the meeting. Hooda led the ticket distribution in Haryana.
Hooda vs Selja tiff
The Congress backed Hooda to the extent that at least 70 of its candidates were supported by the Hooda camp whereas Selja managed to get only 9 tickets for her loyalists. Due to this, Selja stayed away from campaigning for the party and also skipped the manifesto launching event.
This, however, was not the only reason for Selja's upset as the party also nixed her demand to contest the assembly polls. Further, the issue of EVMs was also taken up in the meeting.
Rahul Gandhi raises EVM issue
He said that the electronic voting machines (EVMs) and the Election Commission (EC) have to explain while seeking a detailed report on what went wrong in terms of counting, as per sources. However, when many leaders kept blaming the EVMs, Rahul Gandhi got irritated and left the meeting.
Ever since the Haryana numbers came out, Congress leaders have questioned the EVMs and the EC. They have claimed that the counting was slow in some assembly constituencies and that they were doing fairly well in constituencies where the EVMs had 60-70 per cent battery.
The Congress decided to form a technical team to probe complaints and alleged discrepancies in the EVMs raised by its candidates in Haryana. Congress leaders said that the EVMs should be sealed and secured until the inquiry is completed.
Haryana election results 2024
The Haryana election results came like a bolt out of the blue as veteran Bhupinder Singh Hooda was eyeing to reclaim the Chief Minister's chair. The grand old party could manage to secure only 37 of the 90 assembly seats in the state.
Bucking anti-incumbency and defying all exit polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won on 48 seats in the state.