Cong strikes note of caution with counting meet

A crucial meeting of Congress candidates who contested the recently concluded assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh will be held on Thursday where the party will give its nominees tips to ensure that they are not shortchanged on counting day, say party sources. Congress leaders said on the condition of anonymity that polling agents have been asked to not proceed with counting of the next round of voting until the election observer signs the tabulation sheet of the earlier round. They have been asked to note down the votes received by all the candidates, and not just the main two parties.

The agents have also been apparently asked to match the signature in the seal of the Electronic Voting Machine to see whether it has been tampered with. The agents have been asked to prepare a checklist of things and strictly follow them. The Congress has repeatedly alleged that EVMs in Madhya Pradesh were being tampered with.

A senior Congress leader said the guidelines discussed in the meeting were put in place during bypolls in Kolaras, Mungaoli and Ater, all of which the party won by small margins. In Kolaras, the Congress won by over 8086 votes; the victory margin in Mungaoli was 2124 votes and it was only 857 votes in Ater. “We took all these precautions and we emerged victorious in both Ater and Mungaoli, and we will follow the same pattern everywhere,” said the leader on condition of anonymity.

Congress spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi said, “There is a lot of confusion if counting of several rounds are taken up simultaneously and nobody is sure who got what number of votes in which round, and the chances of cheating increases.”

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Ranjeesh Agrawal said, “We are all in favour of fair play, but the Congress is needlessly creating controversy in everything.” State chief election officer VL Kantharao said,” We will be giving the photocopies of all the tabulation sheets at the end of each round. Fears of manipulation of the tabulation sheets is unfounded. “

BHOPAL: