Tharoor's poll agent writes to CEA, flags electoral malpractice

Chief election agent of Congress presidential candidate Shashi Tharoor has flagged malpractices in the election in a letter to the Central Election Authority (CEA) Chairman Madhusudan Mistry.

The letter, shot off a day after the polling for the party chief, surfaced on Wednesday, the day of counting of votes.

It alleged that there were unofficial persons present at booths who even intimated their supporters specially in Lucknow in the presence of at least three AICC secretaries.

"We suspect voter fraud in this election. There were delegates who were not present in the Lucknow area on the day of voting and their votes were cast. There were complaints from people about not being allowed to cast their votes since others had already cast their votes. We have not heard of such complaints from almost any other state or union territory," the letter read.

"When our agents complained about voter malpractice, supporters of the other side would come inside the polling booth and create a ruckus and start threatening our polling agents. We have specific examples of people who were not in Lucknow on polling day and their ballots were recorded as having been cast," it said.

He alleged that there was no summary of voting as there was no proper arrangements of seals. "During our phone conversation of October 17, Shri Pranav Jha (AICC Secretary), who was in Lucknow, indicated that only the unofficial plastic seals were received from your office. We find it hard to believe that your office, which has tried under very difficult circumstances to organize this election, would somehow send the wrong white seals to only one state. We believe you sent the correct seals to all states and union territories."

"We did not contest this election to accept business as usual. We are ready to fight for the integrity of this election. Winning or losing matters little given that both contestants are part of the same family. However, it matters greatly to our campaign, our volunteers, and our supporters that we ensure that the Indian National Congress emerges stronger after this election," the letter further said.