Congress alleges voting percentage in Gujarat polls increased in last hour

New Delhi, December 12, 2022

The Congress on Monday alleged that the voting percentage in many seats in Gujarat increased in the last hour of the second and final phase of polling in the recently-held Assembly elections.

Party communication in-charge Pawan Khera said: "I have examples of Assembly Constituency Number 144, Raopura in Baroda region, where at 5 p.m., the voting percentage was 51 per cent, and at 6 p.m., it became 57.68 per cent. A rise of 16,000 votes spread over 281 booths, per booth 57 votes; in one hour, not humanly possible.

"Asarva is another seat, Vatva is another seat, Vejalpur is another seat, we have several examples and we are collecting Form 17Cs from our candidates to tally exactly how much percentage went up in the last one hour of polling on the second round of elections in Gujarat."

He said that they were informed by media through their publications and some channels that in the last one hour of the second round of voting in Gujarat on December 5, there was an unprecedented rise in votes. "6.5 per cent at an average, but, there are seats where you saw 11.5 per cent votes being cast in the last one hour, which is humanly impossible, because at an average per vote, 60 seconds are a must."

"You can't have anyone vote in less than 60 seconds, but, if you calculate this, there are polling booths in Gujarat, where it took 25-30 seconds for one vote, impossible, humanly impossible. If we want, we can have a mock session of polling. We can call anyone barring the Election Commission of India and we will see, it is impossible, but, in Gujarat, that became possible," Khera added.

In Vadodara, some seats witnessed 10-12 per cent increase of votes in the last one hour, he said.

IANS