Congress President Election: Shashi Tharoor alleges irregularities, flags UP voting

New Delhi, Oct 19: Team Shashi Tharoor today alleged extremely serious irregularities in conduct of election Congress president polls in Uttar Pradesh and demanded "that all votes from UP be deemed invalid".

Election agent to Congress presidential candidate Shashi Tharoor wrote a letter to Congress Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudhan Mistry, alleging "extremely serious irregularities in conduct of election in UP" and demanded "that all votes from UP be deemed invalid".

"Our campaign wants to bring to your attention extremely serious irregularities in the conduct of the election in the state of Uttar Pradesh. As you will see, the facts are damning and the election process in UP is devoid of credibility and integrity," the letter said.

"We would like to underline that we have no evidence that Mallikarjun Kharge ji was aware of how his supporters were engaging in electoral malpractice in Uttar Pradesh. We are certain that if he were aware, he would never allow what happened in Uttar Pradesh. He would not allow the tainting of an election that is so important for the Indian National Congress," team Tharoor wrote.

The letter flagged problems like unofficial seals for ballot boxes, presence of unofficial people in polling booths and voting malpractice.

"We do not see how this election can be deemed free and fair if the tainted process of Uttar Pradesh is allowed to stand. We therefore demand that all votes from Uttar Pradesh be deemed invalid," said the letter.

"We've been in constant communication with Madhusudan Mistry's office, informed them about many different issues, cannot get into its specifics right now," Salman Soz, election agent of Congress presidential candidate Shashi Tharoor told news agency ANI.

More than 9,500 votes cast to choose between senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor are counted to cap the election contest, the sixth in its 137-year-old history.

While Kharge is considered the firm favourite with his perceived proximity to the Gandhis and a large number of senior leaders backing him, Tharoor has pitched himself as the candidate of change.