Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala on Friday criticised the Election Commission for advancing the counting of votes in the state from February 27 to February 23.

He said the move was a 'conspiracy' to deny over 1.6 lakh soldiers their voting rights.

The Election Commission announced the change on Thursday but gave no reason for the change.

"The Commission has done this with a mala fide intention. Another game of the Congress is being played out. Soldiers, who have been given time till the morning of February 27 to cast their vote through postal ballot, will now be deprived of their voting right. There are hundreds of soldiers in every constituency and every vote counts," Chautala said.

He displayed a form sent to the soldiers instructing them to cast their vote by 0800 IST on February 27.

"The soldiers are 100 per cent with us. At the time of Kargil, we were the ones who gave them maximum facilities," he said.

Chautala, who had earlier expressed his displeasure on the EC's decisions during the elections, claimed the poll authority's actions have caused his government a loss of over Rs 2,000 crore.

Haryana votes to be counted on Feb 23