Haryana civic polls: Congress flags 17,086 duplicate voters in Panchkula

As voting took place for Haryana’s municipal corporation elections, the Congress alleged large-scale manipulation of electoral rolls in Panchkula, claiming that thousands of fake and duplicate voters had been added to the voter list.

Senior Congress leader Gurdeep Singh Sappal accused the BJP of relying not on “Modi magic” but on “voter manipulation” to secure electoral victories, and alleged complicity on the part of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

In a social media post, Sappal claimed that a detailed verification exercise conducted by local Congress workers in Panchkula had uncovered massive irregularities in the electoral rolls.

According to him, the party identified 17,086 duplicate entries linked to 8,543 voters whose names allegedly appeared in two or more places with different voter identification numbers.

He further alleged that Congress workers, during physical verification at polling booths, found that at least 11,065 voters listed in the rolls had either died or permanently shifted from the area.

“The fraud has already been identified, yet the Election Commission is refusing to correct the voter list,” Sappal said, alleging that the responsibility had merely been shifted to booth-level officers. “How will they stop such people from voting? Will this not create tension and conflict at polling booths?” he asked.

Calling it a “planned conspiracy to snatch away democratic rights,” Sappal said the issue had been brought into the public domain well before polling day, leaving no justification for inaction by election authorities.

Despite the allegations, he expressed confidence that Congress candidate Sudha Bhardwaj would emerge victorious in Panchkula. He also appealed to party workers to remain vigilant against alleged fake voting attempts at polling stations.

Last week, Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala had also addressed a press conference on the issue of the vote chori. He said a month-long analysis of voter lists conducted by Congress volunteers across Panchkula Municipal Corporation’s 20 wards had revealed 17,086 duplicate entries involving 8,543 voters.

“This startling truth emerged after an independent, ward-wise cross-verification of the electoral rolls,” Surjewala said. He added that the Congress had submitted a memorandum along with documentary evidence to the Haryana State Election Commission and the Returning Officer of the Panchkula Municipal Corporation.

“We have handed over a detailed list of duplicate voter entries across all 20 wards. The authorities have assured us that the matter will be investigated,” he said, urging election officials to act swiftly ahead of polling.

Meanwhile, polling for Haryana’s civic bodies — including seven municipal bodies and 528 panchayats — concluded on Sunday amid reports of minor skirmishes at a few locations. Overall turnout across the state remained relatively low.

According to data released by the Haryana State Election Commission, the state recorded an overall voter turnout of around 54 per cent. Among the three municipal corporations that went to polls, Sonipat recorded the lowest turnout at 48 per cent, while Ambala and Panchkula recorded turnouts of 54.3 per cent and 53.4 per cent, respectively. Nearly 2.96 lakh voters were eligible to cast their ballots across 22 wards and 264 polling booths in Sonipat.