discrediting-election-commission-to-discredit-democracy

The last time any prime minister was re-elected before Narendra Modi for the third consecutive term was Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962 when he was re-elected in the third General Election. It was after 62 years that Prime Minister Modi repeated the feat in the 2024 General Elections.

 

And it is for the first time in the electoral history of independent India that the Congress has remained out of power continuously for such a long duration. It is already 11 years and, at least, four more to go.

 

This is obvious that the Congress even in alliance with several like-minded Opposition parties has not been able to dislodge the Modi-led BJP government in three consecutive elections. It has tried all the means so far but failed every time.

 

For a long time, the Congress accused the BJP of resorting to “communal polarisation” to win the elections. Then the party switched over to suggesting that the BJP manipulated the electronic voting machines (EVMs). However, the argument did not hold for long and eventually the party gave up, particularly when one of its alliance partners Omar Abdullah questioned its (the Congress’) double standards on EVMs that when it wins it accepts the results and when it loses, it blames the EVMs.

 

Now the party has come out with a different idea of the BJP “stealing the elections” by electoral roll manipulations. The party has been blaming the Election Commission of India alleging that it has been a collaborator in the “vote theft” being committed by the BJP.

 

Indian democracy is respected the world over. The elections in India have always been held in a fair manner. The credit obviously goes to the Election Commission of India. Rarely has any losing political party blamed or accused the Commission of being biased. Even when the Congress nominated former chief election commissioner Manohar Singh Gill for the Rajya Sabha and later made him a minister in Dr Manmohan Singh’s government, no political party - including the BJP, which was in the Opposition - claimed that he was being rewarded for some favour while holding the top position in the election body.

 

Also read: SIR answer to Rahul’s question that he opposes in Bihar

 

The Election Commission of India has a limited role in the preparation of votes which is a completely decentralised process done at the grassroots level. Those involved in the preparation of votes do not report directly to the Commission. They are all officials of the respective state governments right from booth-level officers (BLOs) to the returning officers. They directly report to the local state governments. Besides, preparation of the votes is a transparent process. Anyone can challenge any voter. There is no role for the Commission at the top.

 

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has given a strange and interesting argument. He has been alleging that the BJP-led alliance won the Maharashtra Assembly elections after losing the Parliamentary elections in the state badly, just six months before. He has been alleging that one crore new voters were added during this period, between the Parliament and the Assembly elections and all those new voters voted for the BJP. Again, as mentioned earlier, the Election Commission of India has practically no role in getting votes prepared as it is done at the grassroots level.

 

Also, it is not for the first time that the Assembly and Parliamentary election results have been different from each other even when held within a short span of time. This is because the Parliamentary and Assembly elections are fought on entirely different issues.

 

In order to prove that election fraud was committed by way of fake votes in Maharashtra, Gandhi chose an Assembly segment in Karnataka, instead of Maharashtra to prove his point. He alleged that over one lakh fake votes were found in Mahadevapura assembly segment falling under the Bengaluru Parliamentary constituency in the state of Karnataka.

 

Some of his claims, like bulk votes on a single address, were “fact checked” by a leading newspaper, which reported that the particular address hosted paying guest facilities and there were as many people living at that address. Besides, the reason for people getting their voter cards made is that it is the easiest thing to do and serves as an important proof of identity.

 

Interestingly, the Congress formed the government in Karnataka in May 2023 Assembly elections, one year before the Parliamentary elections. The state government had ample time to verify and find out the voter frauds, if any.

 

Now Gandhi has launched a campaign against the ‘Special Intensive Revision’ (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. The state is scheduled to go for elections later this year, possibly in the month of November. The SIR exercise is being done to screen the voter list for fake votes. During this exercise, 65 lakh voters were found to be non-existent and their votes were cancelled.

 

Also read: Set your house in order; suspend hostilities for a while

 

Interestingly, while the Opposition parties have let hell loose over the deletion of 65 lakh voters from the electoral rolls, not a single “voter” whose name has been deleted from the rolls has filed any complaint so far, even after two weeks of publication of the draft electoral rolls. The entire Opposition INDIA bloc has launched the “battle to save the democracy and right to vote of people,” but not a single aggrieved person who has been disenfranchised has come forward so far. This makes it obvious that the names that have been deleted are mainly of non-existent voters.

 

Like the Congress claim about the EVM manipulation fell flat, the party's “vote theft” charges are unlikely to hold much ground for a long time. If people were really disenfranchised, as Gandhi and the Congress have been alleging, they would have come forward by now. After all, 65 lakh voters were “disenfranchised”, as the Congress and Rahul claim.

 

Knowingly or unknowingly the Congress and other Opposition parties are doing a great disfavour to the country by trying to undermine the credibility of the Election Commission of India. Just because they cannot win the elections, does not mean that the Commission is biased or using their own terminology that the “umpire” (the ECI) is compromised. It is a classic example of a “bad workman blaming his tools” and in this case the Election Commission.

 

The ECI has been known for its non-partisanship and credibility. The ECI officials have been deputed to various democracies in Europe and Latin America as observers to oversee the conduct of election processes in those countries. This is because the institution of the Election Commission of India has evolved over the years and has established itself as a credible and non-partisan body that has contributed to strengthening Indian democracy.

 

The Congress will do better to find out the real reasons for its defeat and BJP’s repeated victories than blaming the institutions like the ECI. Earlier, it had been blaming the media, even calling it ‘godi media’. Now it has started targeting the Election Commission. In due course, it may start targeting other institutions as well.