After poll debacle, Congress’s Haryana in-charge offers to resign | India News

NEW DELHI: After the poll setback, Congress‘ Haryana in-charge Deepak Babaria on Monday offered to resign from his post, taking moral responsibility for the defeat. The resignation comes at a time when the grand old party’s internal apparatus is introspecting its “unexpected” loss, which saw the BJP win for the third straight time.
Congress’s Babaria said he had offered to resign immedieatly after the state assembly poll results were announced but no confirmation was given by the Congress’s high command.
“Last week, after the results, I offered to resign. I offered to the high command that you can replace me. My health is not well and also it is my moral responsibility in the wake of the results. Keeping that in mind, I had told this to the high command that ‘if you deem fit, you can replace me’,” Babaria told news agency PTI.
“After the Lok Sabha polls also, I had offered to resign as in-charge of Delhi, but no decision has been taken on that. Similarly, no decision has been taken (for Haryana), but it was my responsibility to offer (to resign),” he said.
Last Thursday, top Congress leaders held a review meeting to review the party’s unexpected defeat in the Haryana Assembly elections. They decided to form a fact-finding team to speak with all the party’s candidates to uncover the reasons behind the loss.
The meeting included Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal, senior election observers Ashok Gehlot and Ajay Maken, and AICC secretaries for Haryana.
Congress also called for a thorough investigation into the “discrepancies” discovered in some Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during the vote count. They demanded that these EVMs be sealed and secured until the probe is completed. However, the party has decided to pause the blame on EVM’s and focus inwards to look into the role of factional feuds and weaknesses that prevented a win.
On Wednesday, a delegation of senior Congress leaders, including former Chief Ministers Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Ashok Gehlot, as well as K.C. Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Ajay Maken, Pawan Khera, and Haryana Congress President Udai Bhan, met with top Election Commission officials. The Congress alleged there were at least 20 complaints, many involving EVMs running at 99% battery capacity, compared to the usual 60-70% during the vote count.
Congress had been confident of ousting the BJP, which had been in power for 10 years and was dealing with anti-incumbency. However, the BJP secured 48 seats, derailing Congress’ comeback efforts and defying exit polls that predicted an easy win for the opposition. Congress ended up with 37 seats in the 90-member assembly.