Day after EC freeze on recruitment results, Congress slams 'anti-youth' BJP govt in Haryana

A day after the Election Commission barred Haryana authorities from announcing the results of an ongoing recruitment process, the Congress on Thursday lashed out at the BJP and alleged that the “anti-youth” government in the state was remembering the youth after “harassing” them for 10 years.

To ensure a level-playing field in the assembly polls in Haryana, the Election Commission on Wednesday barred authorities in the state from announcing the results of ongoing recruitment processes for police constables and teachers till the election was over.

The commission took cognisance of a complaint from Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh regarding violation of the model code conduct in the process of recruitment against 5,600 vacancies for the post of constable in the Haryana Police, 76 posts of two categories of teachers by the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) and recruitment for various posts by the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC).

Ramesh said in a post in Hindi on X, “The double-break BJP government of Haryana harassed the youth during the last 10 years, kept recruitment on hold and whatever little recruitment was made was given to their own people. The talented youth of Haryana were exploited in the name of Kaushal Rozgar Nigam ie government contracts.” “There was a lot of rigging in government recruitment, papers were leaked… Keeping the elections in mind, on the day of announcement of the elections, to lure youths, recruitment was announced that would never fructify,” he said.

“Today, when the Election Commission has reminded about the code of conduct, the anti-youth government has remembered the youth,” he said.

The assembly elections in Haryana will be held in a single phase on October 1 and the results declared on October 4.

The Election Commission on Wednesday said the model code instructions did not bar the continuing regular recruitment process or promotion through the Union Public Service Commission, the state public service commission or the staff selection commission or any other statutory authority but “recruitment through non-statutory bodies will require prior clearance of the commission”.

After ascertaining the facts from the state government and in view of the existing model code of conduct instructions, the poll panel found no violation of the code in the ongoing recruitment processes by the HSSC and the HPSC.

The commission found that the recruitment processes were initiated before the announcement of the election on August 16 and was within the existing poll code instructions, where statutory authorities can continue their work.