Congress submits memorandum to ECI over slowing down of counting.

Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who led a Congress delegation that met ECI officials, said they have not made any allegations and only asked for directions. The Congress on Tuesday submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the slowing down of the counting of votes in some constituencies in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and the delay in real-time data updates from the polling stations. It asked the poll body to issue directions to ensure that there is no unreasonable delay in the counting process. “We have received further reports that over the past 1/1.5 hours, several parliamentary constituencies across the country have witnessed an overall slowdown in the counting process. Unfortunately, despite objections being raised by our Party Agents, workers as well as Candidates, the officers are not addressing our concerns,” the memorandum said. “It may be relevant to mention that at 2.30 pm, when the polling data was being accessed online, then the data for Parliamentary Constituencies did not detail the round-wise status or mention the total number of rounds that have been counted. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who led a Congress delegation that met ECI officials, said they have not made any allegations and only asked for directions. “The Commission gave us a respectful hearing.” Singhvi said ECI explained things at length and agreed to issue directions to ensure that there is no delay.