AAP claims ‘abusive language’ on portal, EC seeks report from Haryana official

A DAY after the AAP alleged that its applications for permission to hold two election events in Haryana were rejected with abusive language in the response, the Election Commission (EC) Saturday asked for a report on the incident from Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Anurag Agarwal, EC sources said.

The Haryana government, meanwhile, has suspended the Kaithal sub-divisional magistrate-cum-assistant returning officer in connection with the case. According to an official order, Haryana Civil Services (HCS) officer Brahm Parkash has been suspended with immediate effect. Besides, five other people have been reportedly suspended and an FIR registered in the case.

AAP candidate from Kurukshetra Sushil Kumar Gupta said Friday that the party had sought permission for two events on Sunday via the Election Commission’s Suvidha portal. One of the applications was rejected with “koni dende (rejected, in Haryanvi)” and the other was denied with an abuse. While the portal is the EC’S centralised system for processing permissions for rallies during polls, the applications are processed by local district officials, using a portal called ENCORE to respond.

The Deputy Commissioner of Kaithal appeared to confirm the allegation, saying in a series of posts on X: “An incident was reported on 4th April 2024 wherein the user ID of Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) Kaithal, Parliamentary Constituency (PC) Kurukshetra, was misused by hitherto unknown person/s to access the ENCORE portal, and make derogatory posts therein.”

According to EC sources, the Commission has asked for a report from the CEO on the incident.

Reacting to the incident, the Haryana CEO wrote on X: “The incident... is extremely condemnable and has been treated most strictly by the ECI.”

Meanwhile, the AAP has raised allegations on the conduct of the EC this week. On Friday, party leader Atishi said at a press conference that the EC’S notice to her had been reported in the media before it was emailed to her. (With PTI inputs)