Chandigarh, May 7 (PTI) Haryana State Election Commissioner Devinder Singh Kalyan on Thursday said the commission is committed to free, fair, and transparent civic polls on May 10.
Polling will be held on May 10 for the election of mayor and all ward councillors in the municipal corporations of Ambala, Panchkula, and Sonipat.
The same day, polling will go underway to elect the president and councillors in Sampla in Rohtak district, Dharuhera in Rewari district, and Uklana in Hisar district.
On Wednesday, the Congress submitted a memorandum to the commission alleging 17,086 duplicate or identical voter entries in the electoral roll of the Panchkula Municipal Corporation, and sought its intervention in cleaning the voter list.
Kalyan said that against the allegation, the party had submitted a list of only 8,543 voters.
He emphasised that though the memorandum was submitted after the deadline for such matters, the SEC had taken cognisance to maintain the sanctity of the electoral roll.
He said the Panchkula deputy commissioner has been directed to re-verify such entries to ensure a fair and free election.
“After the scrutiny of the said 8,543 entries, the deputy commissioner has been directed to submit a comprehensive fact-finding report after inquiring into the facts given in the memorandum,” he said.
The final publication of the electoral roll is under the supervision of the deputy commissioner, and there is no role of any political party in making and recording the entry in the electoral roll, he asserted.
Kalyan said that as per the commission’s notification dated February 16, 2026, the claims and objections were invited till March 7, on the draft electoral roll published on February 28.
Even after the disposal of claims and objections with the revising authority, appeals could be filed with the deputy commissioner till March 16.
All stakeholders, including the political parties, were afforded an appropriate opportunity during the preparation and publication of the final electoral roll, which was sent to all political parties on March 27.
However, no objections or lists of duplicate/identical voters were provided by any political party during the period, nor was any issue raised by the Congress in an all-party meeting held on April 22 in the office of the State Election Commission, Kalyan said.
The Haryana Congress on Wednesday alleged that they had detected 17,086 duplicate entries of 8,543 voters in Panchkula.
The allegation was made by Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala and the party’s state unit chief, Rao Narender Singh, at a press conference here.
The “startling truth” came to light following an independent, ward-wise cross-verification of the voter lists across the civic body’s 20 wards, Surjewala said.
He said that the party had submitted a memorandum carrying “evidence” to the State Election Commission and the Returning Officer of the Panchkula MC.
Meanwhile, the Haryana government declared a paid holiday on May 10 for voters in the areas going to the polls. PTI SUN VN VN
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