New Delhi, 8 Oct

The Election Commission on Tuesday told Congress leader Jairam Ramesh that there was nothing on record to substantiate his "ill-founded allegation" of slowdown in updating of Haryana poll results.

The poll panel also dubbed his allegations as an attempt to "surreptitiously give credence to irresponsible, unfounded and uncorroborated mala fide narratives".

Earlier in the day, the Congress had raised with the Election Commission the issue of an "unexplained slowdown" in updating of results of Haryana elections on the poll watchdog's website and urged it to direct officials to update accurate figures so that "false news and malicious narratives" can be countered immediately.

In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Ramesh said that between 9 and 11am, there has been an "unexplained slowdown" in updating of results on the ECI's website.

In its response, the poll authority said counting of votes is being carried out according to Rule 60 of Conduct of Election Rules at the designated counting centres and by the designated authorities following statutory and regulatory regime.

The EC said the entire counting process in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir is unfolding in the presence of candidates, observers and micro-observers as per rules. "There is nothing on record to substantiate your ill-founded allegation of slowdown in updating of results. Your memorandum also does not bring out any contrary facts as to the delay at any of the constituencies in Haryana or J-K," it told Ramesh.

The EC underlined that approximately 25 rounds across all the constituencies are being updated every five minutes, which testifies dissemination of counting process in a speedy manner.