Chandigarh, March 19 A Congress delegation met Haryana Governor Ashim Kumar Ghosh here on Thursday, alleging that the Returning Officer was biased and unfair in the Rajya Sabha elections held for two seats in the state.
The delegation was led by Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
The Congress memorandum submitted to the governor said, "The ruling dispensation behaved as 'political predators' and adopted all immoral means for the victory of the independent candidate."
The ruling BJP openly indulged in horse-trading, Faustian bargains, intimidations, institutional pressures, dishonest deals and misuse of government machinery, it added.
After the poll results were announced on Tuesday, the Congress accused the BJP of indulging in "vote chori" and alleged "murder of democracy".
The polling for two Rajya Sabha seats was held here on Monday, in which BJP's Sanjay Bhatia won one seat, while Congress candidate Karamvir Singh Boudh secured the other in a close contest against Independent candidate Satish Nandal.
Haryana BJP's vice-president, Nandal, had contested the elections as an Independent candidate.
Boudh's victory by a narrow margin came amid allegations that five Congress candidates allegedly cross-voted. Besides, of the five votes declared invalid by the Returning Officer, four were reportedly cast by Congress legislators.
According to the memorandum, given the numerical strength both parties enjoy in the 90-member Assembly -- BJP (48) and Congress (37) -- under normal circumstances, the victory of both candidates of BJP and Congress was a foregone conclusion.
Despite the lack of requisite members for winning the second seat, the BJP propped up its Vice President, Nandal, proposed by 7 BJP MLAs, as an independent candidate.
"This unscrupulous act of the ruling party trampled the dignity of the august House of Haryana Legislative Assembly by transforming it into a political market.
The memorandum further said that the arbitrariness in the conduct of the Returning Officer, IAS Pankaj Aggarwal, who supplemented the machinations of the ruling party, was more painful.
"The IAS officer Pankaj Aggarwal behaved as an agent of the BJP/Independent Candidate in a manner unbecoming of a Constitutional authority...," the Congress memorandum alleged.
The Congress had even complained to the Election Commission of India about his "misconduct", it said.
Calling this act of ruling the BJP a dangerous trend in democracy in the country, the Congress urged the governor to instruct the government to observe democratic norms, discipline, and take appropriate disciplinary action against the Returning Officer in the Rajya Sabha election.