Elections should be free and fair for democracy to be just and meaningful. The allegations raised by Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, have cast a disturbing shadow on the impartiality of the Election Commission of India and brought recent elections under a cloud of suspicion. The Congress leader accused the EC of colluding with the BJP to facilitate ‘vote theft’. Citing an analysis of the voter list for the Mahadevapura assembly seat, part of the Bangalore Central parliamentary constituency, Gandhi claimed that 1,00,250 “fake votes” were created to ensure a win for the BJP in 2024. He also hinted at large-scale manipulation across the country. Relying on his team’s analysis of documents provided by the EC, he alleged the presence of duplicate voters, those with invalid addresses, bulk voters at the same address, and voters with invalid photos on the rolls, besides 33,692 cases of misuse of Form 6, which is meant for enrolling new voters. In response, the EC asked Rahul to submit his evidence under oath.
Gandhi’s questions stem from the suspicion of election tampering and are based on efforts to gather evidence. Hence, they deserve to be addressed. India takes pride in its democratic character, and the constitutional body tasked with conducting elections should be above suspicion. Although his questions about the apparent absence of anti-incumbency against the Narendra Modi government and the inaccuracy of opinion polls appear merely political in nature and can be ignored in this context, the accusations about voter list manipulation need to be thoroughly investigated. If the EC has the responsibility of conducting elections, it is also bound to dispel any suspicions about the exercise whenever questions are raised.
Especially at a time when its Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar has been questioned, the EC cannot afford to be dismissive of the allegations raised by the Congress leader. Gandhi also spoke about the EC’s reluctance to share information in a digital format. The question is, why should EC resist accountability and be afraid of questions if it’s convinced of its sense of duty and neutrality? This should not turn into another occasion of political mudslinging. The system must respond quickly and convincingly to restore faith in the democratic process.