Checking & Verification process scheduled for January 9-13, 2025

The EC’s verification process will take place from January 9 to 13, 2025, at a warehouse near Sirsa’s Traffic Park. Nine EVMs will be scrutinized during this period. The verification will be open to all candidates contesting from the Rania seat, including Kamboj and Arjun Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), ensuring complete transparency in the process.

Focus on EVM accuracy, not rote Recounting

Shantanu Sharma, the District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner, clarified that the checking and verification (C&V) would adhere to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued following the Supreme Court’s directives. Sharma emphasized that the exercise would focus solely on verifying the accuracy of the EVMs, and would not involve a recount or rechecking of votes. “Only the EVMs will be examined to ensure the accuracy of the vote recording,” he explained, reported The Tribune.

Kamboj raises concerns over the C&V process

Despite the official clarification, Sarvmittar Kamboj has expressed dissatisfaction with the process, calling it a “mock poll.” He remains frustrated over the results at nine booths where he believes he had a strong chance of winning. “I paid for a recount, but now they are dismissing the issue with this C&V,” Kamboj stated. He confirmed that he would participate in the verification process, but indicated that he may pursue further actions depending on the outcome.

However, in the October 2024 elections, INLD’s Arjun Chautala emerged victorious in the Rania constituency, defeating Kamboj by 4,191 votes. Ranjit Chautala and BJP’s Shishpal Kamboj secured the third and fourth spots, respectively.

Supreme Court’s direction on EVMs Checking & Verification

It is important to note that the Supreme Court had reserved its judgment on the issue of EVM checking earlier in April 2024. The bench sought technical clarifications from the Election Commission regarding aspects such as the micro-controller’s installation, its programmability, and the sealing of control units and VVPATs. Additionally, the Court addressed the process for handling the Symbol Loading Units (SLUs) and clarified the timeline for election petitions.

The Supreme Court issued directions to the Election Commission, which included the sealing and securing of the SLUs post-May 1, 2024, to ensure transparency. Further, the Court allowed for the verification of the burnt memory semi-controller of 5% of EVMs per assembly segment in case of a written request by the runner-up candidates. This verification, to be conducted by engineers from EVM manufacturers, will take place post-results and within seven days of the declaration. The cost of this process is to be borne by the candidate making the request, but if any tampering or discrepancies are found, the expenses will be refunded.

The letter of DEO Sirsa dated 07.01.2025 can be read here

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The VFD report reveals a disturbing trend of manipulated voter turnout data, particularly in Haryana, where the official voter turnout spiked by 6.71% between October 5 and 7, 2024—a shift equating to an additional 1.3 million votes. This surge is both unusual and unexplained, raising suspicions of data manipulation to favour certain political parties. Key districts, including Panchkula and Charkhi Dadri, experienced extraordinary turnout increases of over 10%, all of which disproportionately benefited the BJP in closely contested constituencies. These irregularities call into question the veracity of the official turnout figures and their role in influencing the election results. (See table 5 of the report)

Moreover, the ECI has failed to release raw vote counts, again, instead opting to publish district-wise turnout percentages. This deliberate opacity prevents any meaningful scrutiny of the electoral process. Alarmingly, last-minute revisions to the voter turnout figures just hours before counting on October 8 suggest an attempt to hide discrepancies and manipulate the results. Such actions undermine the transparency and legitimacy of the entire process.

Further troubling findings from the report suggest a mismatch in the EVM vote tallies at various booths, notably in regions where the BJP secured narrow victories. The hike in EVM votes in areas such as Panchkula (10.52%) and Charkhi-Dadri (11.48%) after the polls raised serious red flags. In addition, the BJP’s strong performance in just 10 districts, where it won 37 out of 44 seats, contrasted starkly with its poor showing in the remaining 12 districts, where it secured only 11 out of 46 seats. These discrepancies are not easily explained by local issues or voter preferences, raising concerns about the manipulation of voting data to favour the ruling party. (See table 23 and 24 of the report)

The report also traces a pattern of irregularities extending back to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, where similar unexplained voter turnout increases were observed. The consistency of such data manipulation raises doubts about the Election Commission’s ability to conduct fair and free elections, casting a shadow over its credibility.

In Haryana, the manipulated voter turnout figures are believed to have directly impacted the results, especially in 17 constituencies where the margin of victory was under 5,000 votes. In these tight races, the inflated voter turnout figures helped secure BJP victories, while smaller parties like the INLD (Indian National Lok Dal) saw minimal benefits. In total, the report suggests that the turnout manipulation likely contributed to the BJP’s win in at least 24 additional seats across Haryana.

Similar irregularities have been alleged in the Jammu & Kashmir elections, where last-minute jumps in voter turnout percentages further fuel concerns about the overall fairness of the election process. The widespread nature of these discrepancies calls into question the legitimacy of the entire electoral process in both states. (See table 30 of the report)

The findings of this report, coupled with the overall lack of transparency and consistency in electoral data, raise serious questions about the integrity of the electoral process in Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir. VFD calls for an immediate and independent investigation into these allegations. The lack of transparency, data manipulation, and inconsistencies in the reported turnout figures demand urgent action to restore public trust in the electoral system. The ECI must release all raw data, explain the anomalies, and take responsibility for these discrepancies to ensure such manipulation does not occur in future elections.

Why was this exercise important?

This exercise was particularly timely as the upcoming state elections in Jharkhand and Maharashtra will soon test the transparency and integrity of India’s electoral system. As citizens prepare to vote, it is essential that every vote is accurately counted and reported. By focusing on raw vote counts rather than percentages, the call for transparency ensures that the true outcome of the election is clear and verifiable. Vote counts, which are exact and definitive, eliminate the risks associated with rounding errors or vote leaks that percentages can sometimes obscure. The publication of real, raw vote counts empowers voters and election observers to trust that the process reflects the will of the people, without distortion.

Moreover, the use of Forms 17-A and 17-C, which provide real-time and final tally records of votes, serves as a safeguard against discrepancies or manipulation, offering candidates and citizens alike the tools to verify the accuracy of election results. This call to action emphasises the need for consistency and transparency, ensuring that all votes are recorded and counted faithfully.

In light of the forthcoming elections in Jharkhand and Maharashtra, this initiative is even more critical. These elections offer a chance to reinforce the integrity of the democratic process, ensuring that voters’ voices are heard and respected without interference. Transparency across all stages of voting—from booth-wise queue data to VVPAT verification—is vital for fostering public trust in the electoral system. The call for video evidence and polling officer accountability further strengthens this transparency, ensuring that every step of the process is open to scrutiny.

As highlighted in the VFD report, the integrity of elections hinges on transparent practices that prevent tampering, miscounts, and data manipulation. With the stakes high in these state elections, ensuring a clear, accurate, and transparent voting process is essential not only for the credibility of the elections but also for the health of India’s democracy.

VFD’s finding in Lok Sabha Elections 2024

Notably, VFD had also released its detailed report on the conduct of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections during an event on July 22, 2024 at the YB Chavan Centre in Mumbai. The report, titled “Report: Conduct of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 – Analysis of ‘Vote Manipulation’ and ‘Misconduct during Voting and Counting’,” highlighted alleged election malpractices, including discrepancies in EVM vote counts, vote manipulation, and misconduct by the Election Commission of India and Returning Officers. It revealed a troubling 5 crore “dumped” votes, with the vote hike disproportionately benefiting the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), raising doubts about the integrity of the election process.

Vote for Democracy (VFD)

According to its website, Vote for Democracy (VFD) is a Maharashtra-level citizens’ platform comprising individuals and organizations, established in 2023. The organization is working to ensure voter registration, raise voter awareness, and promote hate-free elections where accountability and transparency are paramount.

The Executive Summary of Report can be accessed here.

The Full Report can be accessed here.

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The post VFD’s draft reports points to “electoral manipulation and irregularities” in Haryana and J&K 2024 assembly elections appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Gradually, as the party tried to shift, slowly, the (soft) Hindutva line, it lost disastrously to the BJP whenever it tried to outdo the saffron juggernaut. The reason behind things not going well for the Congress, among many reasons, a key one is the role of state leaders considered as ‘kshatraps’ who are unable to look beyond their families and jaatis. None of these khsatraps can be termed as inclusive. Some went overboard on their ‘inclusiveness’ that they lost base of their own communities like Harish Rawat in Uttarakhand. However, people like Bhupesh Baghel, Ashok Gehlot, Kamalnath and now Bhupinder Singh Hooda became tired outdone leaders who gained everything from the Congress but could not (did not) go beyond their own family interests and therefore damaged the party. All this at a time when people were looking to the Congress Party as an alternative to the ruling BJP.  Let’s not forget the fact that Siddharamaiyya was defeated in Karnataka despite his good work by caste identities as both Vokalingas and Lingayats never wanted an OBC of the marginalised section to lead the state. D K Shivakumar continues to challenge the chief minister and the powerful Vokalinga lobby is desperate to have him chief minister likes the Jats of north India. Both the Jats as well as Vokalingas-Lingayats are actually powerful landed savarna castes but over the years the Bahujan narrative-setters –for the sake of their vote politics– have added them to the OBC category. The same Bahujan narrative setters are unable to respond or just keep silent when violence against Dalits occurs in those states dominate by these Bahujan politics. BSP Chief Ms Mayawati herself said that though Dalit votes shifted to other parties, the same did not happen in return as Jats did not vote for Dalit candidates and that is a reality. The Bahujan narrative-setters need to look beyond their jaati interest and see the diverse contradictions among various communities at the ground level. There is no one community which can be blamed as being ‘jaatiwadi’ or casteist as almost everyone falls foul of this category. The only thing is that all of us are looking at someone below us and are in awe of someone above us as Baba Saheb had explained. Unfortunately, communities and leaders who need to stitch this broad based participatory alliance with diverse communities are unable to go beyond their jaati interests and trapped in their constructed image of a particular community leader.

We must also discuss about the conduct of the Election Commission of India (ECI) transparency, vote dumping and EVM-related and other administrative issues. These are serious issues and Election Commission; political parties and the highest court have failed collectively to assure us as why shouldn’t the number of vote polled be equal to that of the VVPAT slips. Why has there been a huge mismatch in votes polled and votes counted. Why have the objections not been taken seriously by any of the agency or body accountable for free and fair polls? Why has the Opposition not raised the issue systematically and consistently?

It is important to understand that narrative making is important but it does not really work if you don’t have the cadres and leaders representing those communities at the ground. You won’t get cadres and leaders of the communities if there is a narrative of ‘dominance’ of one particular community in the party organization and structure.

In Haryana, Congress went into the fray with a sense of over confidence convinced that it is returning to power after ten years of anti-incumbency and incompetent government led by the non Jats. It wanted to exploit the rising Jat sentiment of returning to the power but ignored the vital factor that it was only possible if the Jat leadership was ready to play the role of a facilitator ensuring the participation of all those communities particularly Dalits are feeling threatened.  Dalits who constitute about 21% of the total Haryana population cannot even imagine of having a chief minister of their own because 27% Jats would not like them to be so.

The first decade rule under Bhupinder Singh Hooda has brought the Jat Dalit hostilities into lime light where Hooda had no interest to work as conscious keeper of the constitution and provide justice to Dalits. I was witness to various movements led by Dalits for justice including Bhagana and Mirchpur where Dalits became victims of Jat hegemony in Haryana and Hooda was silent, did nothing. In fact, the Congress High command at the time could not even persuade Hooda to act against Jats who were the accused on both the cases. Hence, promoting Hooda at the time when Haryana was witnessing a massive anti Jat incumbency was nothing but playing in the hands of BJP. Even if the party wanted to ensure that it remain in command with powerful Jat votes, it was important to play an inclusive game. The humiliation meted out to Ms Selja, an extremely loyal leader from the Dalit community of Haryana did not go down well with the Dalits in the state. If even after so many years, a woman of substance who had devoted her life and energy to build the party, Selja cannot expect to lead the party or be in its platform as leader of the party, this reflects the highhandedness of Hooda family.

The BJP used this insult to boost their own campaign and the BSP too raised the issue. The anti-Dalit characteristic of Hooda as well as dominant Jats in the region has not in any way diffused and whether real or not, this was the narrative that carried the day. The Congress party must understand that their leaders were made to believe that ‘Kisan’, Pahalwan and ‘Jawan’ were against BJP, as if cutting across the community line there is a broad anger against the government. Frankly speaking, this slogan of Kisan, Pahalwan and Jawan only addresses the Jat voters of Haryana. Congress did not bother to reach out Dalits and Rajput votes.

Through 2024, even when we all know that there was a Rajput desperation to break out of the BJP and ally with any or all other groups who were sympathetic to its issues, the Congress leadership refused to accept the fact that they too exist. Similarly, despite Rahul Gandhi’s loud claims of Social Justice, no collective effort was made in Haryana to reach out to Dalits. The last moment entry of Ashok Tanwar could not bring back the Dalit votes in the party and the reason is clear.

The Congress must understand that a political party is not like a social justice movement. A movement can run on one particular agenda targeting one section of the people but mass politics has to be inclusive and ensure engagement with all communities. Right now, India’s poor and marginalised want a share in the power structure and that happens through their political representation at different levels. While job reservation is an important issue, parties will have to prepare them to take a categorical stand on the issues. BJP succeeded because it has an open stand on various issues unlike Congress which is unable to take a stand. The Dalit vote cast in Haryana was not one sided. The Jatav-Chamar votes who are over 50% of the total Dalit votes in Haryana actually went along with BSP because of the absence of Congress clear stand on sub categorization. The Balmikis who are about 30% of total voters among the Dalits, voted mostly for BJP because it supported the demand for categorisation. So Dalit votes whether pro or anti, went along with other parties and not to the Congress because of its refusal to take a stand.

At a public meeting Yogendra Yadav recently said that an effort is being made against to convert the elections into a Jat verses non Jats and added that the BJP is expert in spinning such a narrative. The party did the same in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar where it pitched other communities against Yadavas. The BJP might have been doing things as per its own political strategy but in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party and Congress are also doing the same which is blaming Rajputs or Thakurs for everything wrong there. Yogendra Yadav has not acknowledged this in a single sentence anywhere mentioning that it is the same Thakurs who actually voted against BJP in Uttar Pradesh and ensured the defeat of many of the Hindutva leaning candidates. Unfortunately, today opposition parties are targeting Rajputs in order to take Yogi Adityanath head on. This may boomerang as the community has no presence in the judiciary, media, industry and bureaucracy in comparison to other powerful communities of Uttar Pradesh. Haryana’s Jat verses non Jat narrative would not have succeeded if Bhupinder Singh Hooda and others had the humility of extending their outreach to other marginalised communities particularly the Dalits in Haryana.

There are about 8% Yadav votes in Haryana and many areas adjoining Uttar Pradesh impact that. A combined campaign with Akhilesh Yadav would have worked here but the local leadership of the party refused to ally with either the AAP or Samajwadi Party. In politics, many a time, even when it is known that an ally does not have a base in the state, to keep them in good humour,  we do share one or two seats so that, through such a strategy goes out to communities that they represent. It sends a signal about the intent of the party. An alliance with the Samajwadi Party and a joint campaign would have served the purpose but Bhupinder Singh Hooda was not interested in that. It would have served better than allying with AAP. The Congress AAP alliance failed because of over ambitious project of AAP and BJP wanted to use it. The BJP works at multiple levels and fronts to achieve its goal. So, Ram Rahim of Dera Sacha Sauda got released on parole and Arvind Kejriwal getting bail from the highest court during the same period could have equally contributed to foiling Congress chances in the state.

That apart, it is also visible that a number of candidates who were not given tickets from the Congress party even contested as independent candidate and got extremely handsome share of votes caused the defeat of the party. Though this happen in any party; here it is also undeniable that that Hooda dominated everything as he was sure he would be in power and he wanted to ensure that after the victory, he become chief minister without any interference of the party High Command. Bhupinder Hooda and his dream to rule Haryana has not just ended, the ambition has also dealt the Congress a severe blow. Congress party now needs to rebuild the party and bring all stakeholders together. Bring the issues that compliment issues being re-calibrated; when Rahul Gandhi raises the Caste Census and reservation issue, it is time, it is done without offending anyone. There is a big difference between political parties and civil society or intellectuals as a political party will have to cater the mass while intellectuals and civil society leaders/influencers are mostly single issue driven. They may speak out of conviction but may bypass ground realities. Political parties cannot afford to behave like charitable organisations or a civil society watchdog group. Congress also needs to be careful of the ‘loyal’ YouTubers who had no other agenda then getting “likes”. The party got carried away with the agenda setters on social media. They remain far from ground realities and were just talking of their ‘man ki baat’. Congress needs to transform into a e party of all and not of one jaati or a couple of jaatis but for that it will have to weave a narrative where every stakeholder feels part of the committed whole.. For this to happen, the party needs to rebuild the party organisation in all the states with new blood.

Though Congress’s defeat in Haryana is shocking for the party, it may be a boon for Rahul Gandhi and others. Bhupinder Singh Hooda would have behaved like other leaders such as Ashok Gehlot, Kamalnath or Amrinder Singh etc. once in power. He never followed the party line when Dalits were being attacked in Haryana. The Congress High Command appears today helpless because regional kshatraps can damage party if not benefit it and therefore it was unable to act against them but Hooda now join the company of Ashok Gehlot, Kamalnath, Bhupesh Bhagel and Harish Rawat. Time has come for the party to move on and build up the grand old party by bringing young leaders from different communities that reflect the ground realities of the state.

All this is not to discount the unfair means which the ruling party adopted, the disappointing role of Election Commission, the issues of fairness and transparency and the manipulated EVMs. They remain vital and important for the health of democracy but we also know the fact that despite that parties have won elections. If the party and many others feel that EVMs have been manipulated and hacked then they must launch a sustained campaign in all seriousness. Administrative issues of fair play are extremely important. However the Congress other committed blunders and that cannot be ignored.

Therefore, Congress would do well, to conduct a caste census of the party structure so that it understands what ails the party, who are the leaders dominant in the party structure yet unable to fetch votes to the party. Get a complete figure of communities within the organisation and link it with the state figures. A complete overhaul of Congress party is not possible without a jaati-janganana’ or caste censuses of the entire party structure. Rahul Gandhi who is advocating the caste census and social justice issues with rigour needs to start putting his home base in order as his social justice agenda will remain unimplementable if there are no takers within the party. Will the party ever listen?

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author’s personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sabrangindia.

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Assembly Polls: SKM to Campaign for BJP’s Defeat in Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir

The post Congress needs a caste census of its party, then build new leaderships from the margins appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The participants, representing the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) and several workers unions, said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government had failed them in improving their livelihood conditions and even used brute force to quash their protests.

The mahapanchayat (grand assembly) was addressed by Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta Ugrahan president Joginder Singh Ugrahan, All India Kisan Sabha finance secretary P Krishna Prasad and Centre of Indian Trade Unions secretary A R Sindhu, among others.

The unions, miffed by the apathy of the ruling BJP in the Centre and the Haryana government, gave a call for defeating the party in the Assembly elections scheduled on October 1.

SKM, a collective of various farmers unions, which spearheaded the struggle against three farm laws, has already expressed its displeasure at the new MSP (minimum support price) rates announced by the Nayab Saini government in the state. It believes that the new rates do not cover the costs incurred in agriculture and will push farmers further into poverty and indebtedness.

Vicky, a farmer, drinking tea with his friends under a massive shed, told NewsClick that they were facing too much uncertainty weather with climate change.

“The prices of fertilisers, seeds, pesticides and herbicides are at an all-time high. We are not able to recover the costs, leave alone any question of profits. The procurement of grains is done late. There is rampant corruption in the selling of DAP and fertilisers. The list is endless,” he said.

Vicky went on to add that Haryana farmers were also unhappy with the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). The scheme, introduced in 2016, aims to provide insurance services to farmers in lieu of premium paid by farmers, state and Central governments.

Raj Kumar, part of the same group of farmers, said insurance companies do not pay compensation in case of failed crops due to drought, untimely rains and frost. However, they are regularly charging a premium every season.

“Farmers have been holding protests for insurance claims for failed crops in 2022 at the Hisar Collector’s Office for two consecutive years. Yet, the companies and the government did not pay heed to our complaints,” he added.

The PMFBY has faced scathing criticism from experts and farmers organisations who argue that it is all about insurance companies minting record profits every year leaving farmers at the receiving end. As per data furnished by former Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in Rajya Sabha, in reply to question by late Sushil Kumar Modi in Rajya Sabha in 2022, insurance companies minted over Rs 40,000 crore in profits in a period of five years from 2016-17 to 2021-22. The data suggest that the companies paid claims worth Rs 1,19,314 crore against accumulated premiums worth Rs 1,59,132 crore.

Apart from farmers, the mahapanchyat also saw participation by construction, scheme, contractual and permanent PSU (public sector) workers who have their own reasons for protests.

Krishna Jangra, who heads the Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Union in Hisar, (the workers are responsible for implementation of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), told NewsClick that these workers look after children under the age of six, feed them nutritious food, report any malnourishment and help in other child welfare schemes.

She said the state government provides rent of Rs 200 and Rs 1,500 for rural and urban areas, respectively. Similarly, Anganwadi workers and helpers are provided an honorarium of Rs 14,000 and Rs 7,500 a month respectively.

“There are two types of centres, ‘smart’ Anganwadi centres and ‘normal’ Anganwadi centres. While the smart centres have all facilities, others are run without water, electricity and toilets,” she added.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi appreciated our role in implementing the ICDS efficiently and announced additional honorarium of Rs 1,500 and Rs 750 for workers and helpers, respectively in his Mann Ki Baat address on radio on September 9, 2018. The state government received the money but declined to transfer it to us. When we protested against it for four months beginning November 2021-April 2022, a total of 975 workers were suspended. This proves that this government is “anti-poor and anti-worker,” said Jangra.

Anil Kumar, a painter by profession, was among the group of construction workers who joined the mahapacnhayat. He told NewsClick that the Haryana government had mishandled the affairs of the labour welfare board and inadvertently opened the avenues for corruption. The labour welfare board, after much struggle, came into existence in 2007 in the state and has a fund to compensate the loss of workers’ lives at work site, provide monetary help in marriage of the daughters and scholarships to needy students of dependent families.

A cess for labour welfare is collected from employers and each worker contributes Rs 5 per month too. To be eligible for such help, a worker must prove that he worked for 90 days in a year and the requisite slip must be verified by the panchayat secretary.

“Earlier the unions did this. Now, these secretaries demand bribes to approve the slips. Even if you pay the bribe, the officers in the labour department ask for a cut in lieu of benefits. A worker is already deprived. How do you think he will afford to pay a bribe?” said Kumar.

A R Sindhu, secretary, CITU, feels the Haryana elections are being fought by people who want to defeat BJP at any cost.

“There’s huge anti-incumbency and you can sense it in people’s conversations. Haryana contributes immensely to Indian defence forces. The government introduced the Agniveer scheme where a soldier would not be considered a martyr. Similarly, they have introduced a new scheme where trainees in industries will be employed and the government will give incentives to employers. The status of jobs is not fixed. This is unforgivable. The voters of Haryana will not tolerate this,” she said.

P Krishnaprasad, finance secretary, AIKS, said farmers and workers unions were compelled to take an electoral stance.

“We were not interested in electoral politics. However, BJP leaders’ actions forced us to teach them a lesson. It is the first time that farmers’ and workers’ unions are meeting and calling for a party’s defeat. We want economic freedom and that can happen only when farmers are paid MSP, workers their minimum wages and their children have jobs,” he said.

Krishnaprasad said, “We have conducted this mahapanchayat so as not to make any party win. We are furious because the (ML) Khattar government and the Centre run by (Narendra) Modi did not fulfil its promise on MSP, minimum wages and jobs. Those who are already celebrating their victory must remember that they will receive the same fate if these promises remain unfulfilled.”

Courtesy: Newsclick

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SKM leaders said that its constituent organisations would conduct door-to-door campaigns and appeal to people to not to vote for the saffron party as it failed to deliver on its promise of minimum support price (MSP) as per the suggestion of Swaminathan Commission recommendations of paying 1.5 times the comprehensive cost.

Constituted in 2004, the National Commission on Farmers, headed by leading agriculture scientist late M S Swaminathan, had recommended that farmers must get 1.5 times of the total cost incurred on inputs in agriculture.

Farmers’ groups have maintained that the Commission on Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP), the central body responsible for announcing the MSP for acquiring foodgrains from farmers, has been employing a wrong methodology for calculating the input costs of seeds, fertiliser, herbicides, pesticides, diesel and harvesting. While the CACP has used the A2 + FL formula, the farmers have been asking for C2+ 50% for fair returns on the produce. A2 covers major costs, such as fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides and diesel among other costs and FL implies unpaid family labour. C2 refers to comprehensive costs, which also cover rents and forgone interest on land, apart from traditional costs.

Mahapanchayat in Hisar

The SKM’s Haryana unit said it would organise a massive meeting of workers, farmers and employees (permanent and contractual) in Hisar on September 7, to launch the campaign in the state.

Inderjit Singh, one of the key functionaries of SKM, told NewsClick over the phone that although the decision to hold such a campaign was in the agenda of SKM’s national executive meeting on July 10 in New Delhi, it was formally cleared on August 20 in Bhiwani where all constituent organisations gave their consent.

“We are very clear that we will expose the government’s corporate-communal nexus; their anti-farmer and anti-worker character and punish by defeating them,” said Singh, who is also a leader of the All-India Kisan Sabha (AIKS).

The septuagenarian leader went on to add that the joint programme had been convened with active participation of Central Trade Unions. “We snatched five seats (from BJP) in Lok Sabha elections (in Haryana). We will repeat the Assembly elections too,” he added.

‘Haryana CM Misguided us’

Suresh Koth, leader, Bharatiya Kisan Mazdoor Union, told NewsClick over the phone that farmers were agitated because the promises made during the farmers’ movement were not fulfilled. “Consecutive CMs kept misguiding us over MSP. The police cases registered during the agitation have still not been withdrawn,” he added.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the decision of repealing the farm laws, the Centre, through its Secretary (Farmers Welfare) Sanjay Agarwal, had assured the SKM leadership that it would form a committee, including representatives from the Centre and state governments, agriculture scientists and farmer leaders from different unions with the mandate to devise methods to implement MSP.

Agarwal’s letter dated December 9, 2021 also noted that the Union government in principle agreed to withdraw criminal cases by its agencies for participation in the historic struggle and it would appeal to the state governments to withdraw the cases, too. The Centre will also hold a discussion on the provisions impacting farmers in the Electricity Amendment Act, the letter added.

In a statement, SKM said, “The massive setback suffered by BJP across India in the just concluded 18th Lok Sabha elections — NDA lost in 159 rural constituencies — was mainly due to the anger among farmers, workers, youth and marginalised sections including Minorities, Dalits and Adivasis against the pro-corporate policies imposed by the Modi Government. Another drubbing to BJP in these Assembly elections will amount to a litmus test for farmers to make certain their victory in the struggle across India against the corporatisation of agriculture and in defence of their livelihoods.”

On Haryana, the statement said, “The Haryana Chief Minister had attempted to misguide the farmers by falsely claiming MSP for 24 crops consciously hiding the fact that the procurement rate is not based on C2+50% but the current rate of A2+FL+50%.

“The C2+50% rate of paddy, one of the major crops of Haryana is Rs.3012/qntl while the current rate is Rs. 2300/qntl means less by Rs.712/qntl. Paddy farmers alone in Haryana had a loss of Rs.3851.90 crore in the year 2023-24.”

The SKM said similarly, the workers’ movement was also consistently in struggle demanding minimum wages of Rs.26,000/ month, rolling back of four pro-corporate labour codes and regularisation of jobs in schemes, including Anganwadi, Asha and Mid-Day Meals.

The BJP-led state government in Haryana and the Modi government that rules over the Union territory of Jammu Kashmir through the Lieutenant Governor, had brutally ignored these huge mass sections of the working population, it said.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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Image Courtesy: The statement

Ankit Sharma, the brother of Geetika Sharma, who was allegedly driven to suicide by then Haryana MLA GopalGoyal Kanda in 2012 on Friday, lashed against the prospect of the BJP government joining hands with the tainted politician to form a government in Haryana.

Kanda, who won from the Sirsa assembly seat by a margin of 602 votes in this election, met with BJP working president JP Nadda late on Thursday in Delhi. “We will support the BJP unconditionally. My father was in the RSS, so we are part of the family. We have all agreed to support the BJP,” he said today.

Gopal Kanda, the controversial Haryana MLA is back in the headlines after he won the Haryana election and almost turned kingmaker, promising to back the BJP to form a government in the state. The BJP fell six seats short of 46 needed for a majority.

“Where do we go to find justice, if people like Gopal Kanda are allowed to run constituencies? What about the slogan we have in Haryana – BetiBachao, BetiPadhao – if we are giving the responsibility of women to a hooligan?” Ankit Sharma told a TV channel.

Geetika, a 23-year-old air hostess with the now defunct MDLR airlines, which was owned by Kanda, had committed suicide in 2012 alleging harassment by Kanda and one of his aides ArunaChadha. Unable to bear the loss of her daughter, Geetika’smother also killed herself a few months later in 2013.

Kanda was arrested for abetting the suicide after Geetika left behind a suicide note, and was also booked for rape, criminal conspiracy and criminal intimidation. The rape charges were later dropped when the Delhi High Court granted him bail in 2014.

Geetika had accused of Aruna and Kanda of repeatedly breaking her trust and ruining her life. She had said that both of them were cheaters and crooks and were trying to now sabotage her family members. She said they had used her for her innocence and that Kanda should be punished for his malicious intentions towards her and her family.

Kanda had then resigned as a minister from then CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s cabinet, which was the Opposition party to the BJP. At that time, the BJP had held protests against Kanda, demanding his arrest.

In light of the situation Congress President Sonia Gandhi said, “Look at what Modi had said earlier; he was removed from our cabinet and now he is being made to look like a hero.”

Calling out her party over Kanda, BJP leader and former Union Minister tweeted against BJP’s stand.

Meanwhile, over the vociferous protests, the BJP is not likely to take Kanda’s support and form an alliance with Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) to form its government in the state.

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The previous low was in the year 2000 when four women were voted to the assembly in a state which until recently had India’s worst sex ratio at birth, and the fourth highest rate of crime against women nationwide in 2017.

The Manohar Lal Khattar-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won (or was leading in) 40 seats as it attempted to win a second successive term in Haryana (as of 6.25 pm). This is seven seats fewer than the 47 it won in 2014. The Congress has won/was leading in 31 seats.

The BJP now governs 15 of the 29 states in India, including Maharashtra where the party has won/was leading in 103 seats while its ally, the Shiv Sena, has won/was leading in 57 seats in the 288-member assembly.

The trends in Haryana indicate a hung assembly, which would mean that the independents and the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP)–a splinter group of the Indian National Lok Dal, led by Dushyant Chautala–would play a decisive role in forming the next government. Khattar is reportedly set to stake claim to form the government.

In the 2019 general elections, the BJP had won all 10 parliamentary seats in the state. Only one of the members of parliament elected, Sunita Duggal, was a woman. 

BJP had 12 women candidates, Congress 10
The BJP gave tickets to 12 women this year, compared to 10 women candidates from the Congress.

Three women candidates from the BJP won their races–five fewer than the party’s eight women legislators in 2014; five women candidates from the Congress had won.

This time, the JJK fielded seven women candidates. One of them, Naina Singh Chautala, Dushyant Chautala’s mother, has won.

In 2014, women formed 14% of Haryana’s members of legislative assembly (MLAs), four percentage points more than in 2009. But this is less than the 33% representation for women in parliament and state assemblies sought in a bill (the One Hundred and Eighth Amendment or the women’s reservation bill) introduced in 2009, which has since lapsed.

In 2014, Haryana had, as we said, 13 women MLAs–the highest in the two decades since 2000. Of the 13, four were re-elected in 2014 and have contested for a third term in 2019. Of these, three have won.
 

Overall, eight of the sitting women MLAs have re-contested in 2019. Two of them, Shakuntla Khatak and Geeta Bhukkal, contested from Kalanaur and Jhajjar, respectively, both constituencies reserved for scheduled castes (SC) candidates.

The BJP’s Kavita Jain, contesting for a third successive term from Sonipat, was trailing by nearly 33,000 votes. 

“It is difficult to make an assessment of women politics depending on how many women win,” Rahul Verma, fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, told IndiaSpend. Despite having low social development indicators, Haryana has one of the largest representations of women, he added, “But many of the candidates and previous winners are either from political families or celebrities.”

Gilles Verniers, co-director of the Trivedi Centre for Political Data and head of the political science department at Ashoka University, agreed with Verma. “Until this result, Haryana had the highest representation of women in assemblies,” he told IndiaSpend. “This often comes as a surprise given the state’s reputation on women’s welfare, but we observe that in India, states with the worst women welfare-related statistics like skewed sex ratio, illiteracy, infant mortality etc. tend to have more women politicans than those with better indicators.” 

“One explanation is the prevalence of dynastic politics in those states, which creates opportunities to women to run,” Verniers said, “The traditional, conservative, North Indian political tradition tends to have a prevalent culture of political dynasticism than other parts of India.”

Haryana has fourth-highest rate of crime against women
Over five years to 2017, female representation in state assemblies was the highest in Haryana (14%) along with Bihar and Rajasthan, according to the 2017 data released by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation.

Haryana has had one of the lowest sex ratios in the country–it had 833 girls for 1,000 boys at birth in 2011. But for close to a decade now, the state has shown a steady improvement in its sex ratio at birth, and reported 920 girls for 1,000 boys in August 2019, IndiaSpend reported on October 20, 2019.

A skewed sex ratio has led to villages with few female children, brides being bought for money as there are too few local women for men to marry, and forced marriages with women outside the state, The Guardian reported in March 2018.

The state had India’s fourth-highest rate of crime against women–88.7 crimes per 100,000 women, according to 2017 crime data. Female literacy, at 75.4%, is above the national average of 68.4%, and nearly 46% of girls in the state have completed more than 10 years of schooling, also above the national average of 35.7%, IndiaSpend reported on August 12, 2017, as a part of our Women@Work series.

The state is among the wealthiest in the country with a per capita income (at current prices) of Rs 2.3 lakh per annum, nearly 77% more than the all-India per capita income of Rs 1.3 lakh, noted the 2018-19 Economic Survey of Haryana.

The labour force participation rate among those aged 15 years and above (LFPR or percentage of persons in the labour force in a population) in Haryana is 45.5% for rural and urban areas, 4.3 percentage points less than the national average, according to 2017-18 Periodic Labour Force Survey released by the government in May 2019. India’s unemployment was pegged at a 45-year high at 6.1% based on the report.

Women’s LFPR was even lower–14.7% in rural areas (nearly 10 percentage points lower than the national rural LFPR for women) while in urban areas it was 13.7% (6.7 percentage less than national urban female LFPR).

“Unemployment may or may not be a voting issue,” said Verniers. “Women do outvote men in Haryana as they do in many states in the Hindi belt. But lack of access to employment means household confinement, which is a strong barrier to women’s participation in the public sphere.”

“The trouble is that the bar is so high that a man of ordinary capability and more than ordinary ambition can enter politics, but women have to cross many thresholds to be able to enter politics,” Yogendra Yadav, psephologist and president of Swaraj India party, had told IndiaSpend in an interview. His party had fielded 27 candidates, including five women candidates, all of whom have lost.

“If you filter the women in the Haryana assembly for those from political families, you would realise that their number [women’s representation] is close to zero,” Yadav said.

There are a number of barriers for women because parties still think they make weaker candidates, or that they cannot perform the tasks expected from an elected representative, according to Verniers. “In some states, like Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, voters turn against women candidates, giving them less votes than their male counterparts. There is an issue of self-selection where elections are seen as masculine and brutish, which may discourage women to run. And then there is the cost of entry of elections which affects women adversely.”

At the time of publishing, repolling had been ordered in five booths in as many constituencies–Natnaul, Kosli, Beri, and Uchana Kalan, Prithla–due to ”some shortcomings” according to Inder Jeet, the state’s joint chief electoral officer, NDTV reported.

(Paliath is an analyst with IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend

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However, for Dalits of Bhagana, democracy has already lost in its quest to provide them with their right to vote.

Scared of being attacked by the dominant members of their village, around 500 Dalit voters of Haryana’s Bhagana village skipped casting their votes on the Assembly elections on Monday.

These voters have been living outside their village since 2012 when following a land dispute between the Dalits and the dominant caste members of their village, the former were socially boycotted by the upper-castes resulting in the exodus of 138 Dalit families from the village.

Despite the long passage of time, the Dalits say, that the animosity between them and some of the upper-caste people of their village hasn’t subsided, particularly because of the insistence of the protesters to demand prosecution of the people who had made them leave the village.

Given the circumstances, Satish Kajla, who has been leading the protest movement since it started in 2012, had requested the administration to shift some of the polling booths in the village near the Dalit homes. The demand, however, was not met.

“In the last Lok Sabha elections also, I had demanded that the place be declared as extremely sensitive and requested that the polling booths be made near the Dalit Basti. The administration declared the place extremely sensitive but didn’t accept our second demand,” said Satish Kajla.

Kajla said that this time he wrote to the District Election Officer and Central Election Commission about the fear of Dalit voters in casting their ballots in polling booths located near the residences of upper-caste people of Bhagana. But his demand was again turned down.

“They didn’t even declare the village as extremely sensitive like in the last Lok Sabha election,” claimed Kajla.
 
If a polling booth is declared sensitive or extremely sensitive, then additional security personnel must be deployed at the booths. 
However, Kajla said that problem is not just at the polling booths only.

“If the booths are located at the other corner of the village, then we have to walk through the rows of houses of the same people who had persecuted us earlier. They still don’t let any opportunity slip by to hurl abuse and threaten us. Hence it’s important that the polling booths should be made near our houses,” Kajla added.

With a voter population of around 4,000, Bhagana has approximately 1,200 Dalit votes, out of which about 500 live outside of the village.

The Dalits who live outside Bhagana remain in contact with those Dalits who live in the village. However, physical contact rarely takes place due to the tense situation in their village.

Jagdish Kajla, a youth from Bhagana who now lives in Hisar, says that even fulfilling their religious and cultural customs is difficult for them as the village upper-castes don’t leave any opportunity to humiliate them.

“In our tradition when a person dies, people donate some firewood from each household of the community for the cremation. However in Bhagana, when we try to do that, the village upper-castes don’t let us collect wood from village land. So the enmity is still there,” Jagdish said.

Dalit rights activist Rajat Kalsan described the government decision to not install separate booths for the Dalits of Bhagana as ‘prejudiced’.

“Right to vote is a constitutional right of every citizen. The government can make a special arrangement for security forces to be deployed in difficult places to help people cast their votes. But the fact that it ignored a similar demand of a section of the population with genuine reasons explains either the government thinks that they (Dalits) will not vote for them or perhaps just don’t care about them,” said Kalsan.

Kalsan said that there was a need to hear the fears of the marginal community of the village.

 “In a place like Bhagana which has witnessed one of the most heinous caste atrocities in the country’s history, the administration should have heard the Dalits and tried to ameliorate their grievances. Their fears can’t just be removed by the bureaucratic thought process,” Kalsan added.

Courtesy: Two Circle

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Social media, that until very recently was threatening to become a breeding ground for hate, today upped its ante to fight back against troll armies of proto-fascists and right-wing supremacists.  

As the results of the #MaharashtraAssemblyPolls and #HaryanaAssemblyPolls trickles in on Thursday October 24, Twitterverse dished out its best. From sarcasm to puns, from memes to gifs… Tweeple’s social media game was on fleek!
And we say… keep slayin’!

Here are some of the tweets that tickle the funny bone.

To market, to market

Boo hoo!?

In the end, it doesn’t even matter

Just business?

Somethings in life that money can’t buy…

Of dead rats…

Tejasvi’s FOMO moment

While the candidates fight to gain foothold, the pow-wow on Twitter has us in splits. What are your favorite election-time tweets? Do share them with us in the comments.

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“Evms tampered,” Bakshish Singh Virk is heard saying. The video records that he was even heard saying that he and his supporters had tampered with the EVMs in a way that every vote would go to the BJP, irrespective of the button the voters press. “The video came to my notice and I have served a notice to BJP candidate to give his reply,” said District Election Officer Vinay Pratap Singh.

While the Congress candidate from Assandh, Shamsher Singh Gogi demanded action against the candidate from the Election Commission, is this a little bit of censure too late? Will the Election Commission get to the bottom of this at all post polls?

“The Election Commission should take it seriously as Virk is claiming it publicly that they have set the EVMs. Legal action should be taken against him, besides cancelling his candidature,” said Gogi.

Predictably, Virk and BJP district president Jagmohan Anand claimed that the video was doctored. “I respect the Election Commission and the EVMs. The video is edited. It is a conspiracy against me to malign my image,” said Virk. Anand said that he got the video clip verified and it was found to be doctored. 

“We respect the Election Commission and Virk did not say anything over the setting of EVMs. Nobody can set the EVMs,” said Anand.

The video may be viewed here.

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