Bhan, Babaria differ over ticket allotment

Responding to Congress Haryana in-charge Deepak Babaria’s assertion that 10-15 tickets were wrongly distributed in the state Assembly elections, Haryana Congress president Udai Bhan clarified that the Central Election Committee (CEC) had made the final decisions on candidates.

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Bhan made the statement during a meeting of the Congress committee formed to analyse the party’s defeat in the Haryana elections. The committee is led by former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and includes former Rajasthan minister Harish Chaudhary and party leader S Senthil.

“It was the CEC and Congress leadership that decided the candidates. Both I and Congress Legislative Party leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda were only members of the CEC. All tickets were distributed on merit,” Bhan said, adding that it was inappropriate for any leader to comment publicly on the ticket distribution process. On Babaria’s claim that he received a WhatsApp message regarding EVM tampering on 14 seats before the counting began, Bhan said he became aware of the message only the following day. The Congress lost all 14 of those seats.

Babaria said, “If the Supreme Court takes cognisance of electoral malpractices in Haryana and the EC replies honestly, the current government won’t last until 2026.” He maintained that EVM tampering was a major factor in the party’s defeat but admitted some internal mistakes also affected the outcome. The review panel held one-on-one interactions with Congress leaders, including ex-CM Bhupinder Hooda.