HARRISBURG — House Republicans in Pennsylvania are dropping plans to fast-track an 11th-hour effort to set up a Republican-majority election panel with subpoena power, officials said Friday, amid accusations that it was an effort to steal the election.

In an email to House Republicans, Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre, said “the muddied waters and misunderstanding” about the intent of the Select Committee on Election Integrity made it clear “this is the wrong time to run the proposal.”

Benninghoff blamed “the left and their media allies.”

The battleground state is hotly contested by President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden, after Trump won it in 2016 by less than 1 percentage point. Trump at a rally near Harrisburg claimed the will lose Pennsylvania only if Democrats cheat and suggested that the Democratic bastion of Philadelphia needs to be watched closely for election fraud.