A bad workman always blames his tools. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday came out with, what he claimed, “shocking” details about the alleged “vote-chori” (vote theft) by the “Bharatiya Janata Party in collusion with the Election Commission of India” in Haryana. But like in case of the electronic voting machines (EVM) “manipulation” earlier, there are not many buyers for his “vote theft” claims either, not even from among his alliance partners.
Gandhi tried to make an “ostentatious” presentation with a lot of hype to create a powerful “visual” impact by displaying reams of paper collected after “ground” research in Haryana, where the Congress lost for the third time in a row. Haryana elections were held in October last year. He came out with the “revelations” after one year.
There are no doubt anomalies in the voter lists. Fake and bogus voters are present everywhere. But then there are multiple layers of checks and balances during the process of casting the votes. Like he quoted some examples where one particular person had multiple votes in a single both, that person can never cast a vote twice, leave aside multiple times.
The polling agents of various political parties are supposed to primarily check the identities of the voters. If the Brazilian model’s photograph is used in Haryana vote, it is easily identifiable. No voter can cast his/ her vote if his/ her picture does not resemble with his/ her face. It will need connivance of many people, including the polling officials and polling agents to turn a blind eye.
His argument that the Congress lost Haryana elections by just about 22,000 votes, while there were over 25 lakh “fake votes” also does not hold much ground. First, it is very difficult to establish that all these “fake” voters were able to cast votes. If they managed, then the polling agents of his own party are also to be blamed as to how they let the suspicious voters cast their votes. Even if they managed to cast their votes, what is the guarantee that all of them cast their votes in favour of the BJP only, as Gandhi would make everyone believe.
Also read: Rahul Gandhi alleges massive voter fraud in Haryana
He also used the argument that all exit polls predicted the Congress victory in Haryana. But then, all the exit polls predicted a sweeping victory for the BJP-led NDA in 2024 General Elections. The exit polls predicted over 300 seats for the BJP, while it could barely win 240 seats. Gandhi, had himself dismissed all these exit polls. The Congress party held a press conference against these exit polls linking these with the stock market surge that day. When the actual results came, they were different from the exit polls. The BJP barely managed to form the government, which it ultimately did with the support of allies. The stock market crashed.
Coming back to Haryana, by blaming “vote theft” for his party’s loss, Gandhi is simply bailing out himself and his party leadership in the state. Congress workers and leaders across Haryana know the real reason and also who was mainly to be blamed for the party’s loss. They have been saying it and have identified the reasons and the leaders who were mainly responsible for the party’s loss and the BJP’s victory.
Even on the ground, the BJP was in no way “weaker” than the Congress. In the General Elections held just a few months before the assembly elections, while the BJP could win only five parliamentary seats, it had led in 46 of the 90 assembly segments, while the Congress had led from 44. Besides, Haryana has an unbreakable tradition for over three decades that the state has always gone along with the party/ alliance that is in power at the Centre.
After losing the EVM argument with his own allies like National Conference questioning it, Gandhi has switched over to the narrative of “vote theft”. Once the idea gets into the public domain, perception gets built up and doubts creep in. Gandhi is not serving any purpose for his own party either. He is only trying to undermine the credibility of the Election Commission of India by using “sporadic anomalies” in voter lists here and there.
The electoral process in India is fool proof with lots of checks and balances. Those aware of the complete process of elections right up to the casting of the vote know it too well as how difficult, almost impossible, it is for anyone to cast a fake vote. As already mentioned, it cannot be possible without the connivance and collaboration of the polling agents of all the parties and independent candidates contesting the elections. Since not many people know about the actual process, Gandhi does manage to create a perception by casting doubt about the very process of elections and claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP governments in various states are not “legitimately” elected, but by “stealing” the elections.
His appeal to Gen Z after the conclusion of his Wednesday presentation to rise and fight to protect the “murder of the constitution and democracy” reveals his long-term intentions that he wants to cast doubts about the fairness of electoral process, something similar to Bangladesh. If you can’t win with the ballots, you shouldn’t try to cause doubts about the process and incite people against something that really did not happen and exist.
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