On Wednesday, 9th October, Supreme Court advocate Mehmood Pracha, who once featured in ISIS magazine, stated that Congress leader Jairam Ramesh was misleading Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by leading a ‘campaign’ against the Congress’ opposition to EVMs. He said that Ramesh worked as a ‘sleeper cell’ of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and had a habit of crying over the issue when nothing could be done. Pracha also accused Yogendra Yadav also being an RSS agent.
Coming up on Truth Be Told with @neeluopines shortly@MehmoodPracha, a Supreme Court advocate, claims Congress leader @Jairam_Ramesh is a 'sleeper cell of the RSS' and that he is misleading Rahul Gandhi. Pracha also says elections through EVM are 'fraud', adding that re-election… pic.twitter.com/0OfcSal8V2
— HW News English (@HWNewsEnglish) October 9, 2024
This is after the BJP won the Haryana elections by securing 48 seats of 90 while the Congress won 37. After the election results were declared, the Congress party blamed the EVMs and claimed that the BJP had won the elections by tampering with the EVMs.
On Wednesday, Congress sought a comprehensive investigation into ‘discrepancies’ allegedly discovered in some Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during vote counting in the Haryana assembly elections, as well as the sealing and security of such EVMs until the inquiry.
A group of top Congress leaders, including former chief ministers Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Ashok Gehlot, AICC leaders KC Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Ajay Maken, and Pawan Khera, and Haryana Congress chairman Udai Bhan, met with top Election Commission officials. The group submitted a memorandum to the officials, along with specific objections from various Haryana constituencies.
The Congress leaders claimed that at least 20 such complaints, seven of which were in writing, had been received from as many assembly constituencies, with many referring to EVMs that were operating at 99 percent battery capacity while the average EVM was found to be operating at 60 to 70 percent battery capacity during counting. The party highlighted ‘glaring discrepancies’ relating to several EVMs in the Haryana polls and asked the EC to launch an inquiry.
Following this, Pracha in an exclusive interview with HW News English said that several top Congress leaders including Jairam Ramesh were misleading party leader Rahul Gandhi. “The delegation who met the ECI officials complaining about the EVMs actually didn’t have the intention to do anything much about this because they are complacent. Election by EVM is only a fraud and we led by the civil society have been fighting about the issue. But the oldest party of the country has failed to control the issue,” he said.
“The election commission officers are committing fraud by employing EVMs in the voting system. They are not conducting free and fair elections. All of this is elaborately known to almost all the Congress people and that is because of our demonstrations backed by evidence against the EVMs. We have visuals showing the stealing of EVMs, and the changing of EVMs. When all of this is known how could Congress allow the elections to happen using EVMs? Why didn’t they take any action before the elections?” he pondered.
Pracha further stated that several leaders from the Congress party did not intend to resolve the issue. He said that they have been misleading Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over the issue by ‘crying over the spilled milk’. He said that the leaders should have strived before elections and shouldn’t have allowed the usage of EVMs for voting.
“Jairam Ramesh has never spoken a word against EVMs despite Rahul Gandhi heading a campaign against the EVMs. He has discouraged people from speaking against the EVMs. I have proof of that. He is the sleeper cell of RSS,” he said further adding that writing to the ECI officials and meeting them complaining about the EVMs post elections was all a drama to mislead the party.
It is important to note that the Congress rejected the Haryana Assembly election verdict on 8th October alleged EVM manipulation and accused the BJP of subverting the people’s will. Jairam Ramesh addressing the press that day said, “All afternoon, I’ve been in touch with the Election Commission. The Election Commission has replied to my complaint, I’ve replied to the reply. We’ve received very serious complaints about the process of counting, and the functioning of EVMs in at least three districts. We’ve spoken to our senior colleagues in Haryana. This information is being collected, and we hope to present this in a consolidated form to the Election Commission.” Ramesh said the results in Haryana were totally unexpected, surprising, and counter-intuitive. “It goes against ground reality,” he was quoted as saying.
The Congress grabbed an early lead in the vote count on Tuesday, prompting celebrations at party offices in Delhi and Chandigarh. However, the BJP surged from behind to take a clear lead in winning the elections for the third time.
Pracha called for a return to ballot boxes and wanted Congress to lead a movement to end the use of EVMs. While he claims EVMs are manipulated, the fact is, ballot boxes are easy to manipulate, and the return of ballot boxes will ensure the return of the dark days of ballot box looting and stuffing. Calling for replacing EVMs with ballot boxes will be nothing other than undermining democracy. With ballot boxes, goons can easily overpower election officials, stamp all the ballot papers quickly and put them in ballot boxes, which is not possible with EVMs.
Mehmood had called for unnecessary cases against RSS activists
Mehmood has always been clear on his stand against the RSS. Earlier he had accused the organization of hijacking all the Central institutions. He also accused them of hijacking top leadership of SC/ST, minorities [Muslims], and OBCs. He has also accused RSS activists of planning to remove the constitution and impose the rules as told in the Hindu text Manusmriti in the past. As the PM and HM have been members of RSS, Parcha in an interview earlier insinuated that the Prime Minister and Home Minister, two of the highest chairs in the country, had plans to remove the constitution.
Who is this lawyer filled with so much hatred and igniting 30Cr Muslims to March against our beloved leaders @narendramodi & @AmitShah ?
— Tathvam-asi (@ssaratht) August 22, 2023
Are Hindus ready or remotely ready to take on such radical mindsets?
Why isn’t there any action@himantabiswa @assampolice @BJP4Assam
1/4 pic.twitter.com/Hk1sj5nik2
He also has provoked his followers to identify the members of RSS on the grassroots level, especially those who have progressed financially, and file unnecessary cases of corruption against them. During the Manipur violence, he accused the PM and HM of directly being involved in the violence. He has accused RSS and BJP of being hand-in-hand with Pakistan and China to weaken the country’s border areas.
Not only this, he has also accused RSS and BJP of allegedly orchestrating Nuh Violence and Delhi Violence in 2020.
Mehmood Pracha was featured in ISIS magazine.
Mehmood Pracha, who had once called for Muslims to take up arms, was featured as the poster boy for a pro-ISIS media outlet and is accused of spreading communal hatred in the past.
As India went through communal turmoil during the anti-Hindu riots earlier in February 2020, a publication titled ‘Voice of Hind’ issued by Al-Qitaal Media Center and Junudul Khilafah al-Hind featured Mahmood Pracha on its cover page. The cover was titled “So, Muslims, where are you going?”. It was featured with the subtitle “A Call to the Muslims of India”.
The magazine had praised slain terrorists in Kashmir. It also urged the Muslims to reject the idea of an Indian nation-state and fight for the ‘caliphate’ instead. In addition to this, Mehmood Pracha has also been accused of exhorting Muslims to take up arms. In a press conference last year, Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad and Mehmood Paracha announced that they would be setting up a camp in Lucknow to teach Muslims and Dalits about the ‘right to self-defense and how to apply for a firearm license.
Mahmood Pracha had cited the incidents of mob lynchings and the Sonbhadra massacre as reasons for conducting the camp. He said those events would not have occurred if the victims had legal firearms to defend themselves.
In the given case, Mehmood has leveled serious allegations against Congress leader Jairam Ramesh over the Haryana Elections. It remains to see what action Ramesh takes against the SC advocate if any.