The EC is one of the key custodians of India’s democracy. It must act as per the law as well as per convention, and answer the questions put before i
It has been the consistent position of the Election Commission of India that it has the constitutional responsibility to protect the sanctity of the voters’ lists based on which elections to the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies are held. Even the Supreme Court has admitted this while hearing petitions challenging the special intensive revision of the voter lists in Bihar. Indeed, the law and the Constitution empower the EC to do what it takes in order to ensure that the lists have only bona fide voters in them. In short, the Election Commission is the author of the electoral rolls, but then, as it has the right to write them, it also has the job of defending them.
It is in this context that the EC’s response to the allegations raised by Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi about the 2025 elections to the Haryana Assembly must be considered. Mr Gandhi has alleged that 25 lakh fake votes were cast in the elections, which the Congress lost by a whisker. According to the Congress leader, there were 5.21 lakh duplicate voters, 93,174 invalid voters, and 19.26 lakh bulk voters amongst a total of two crore voters in the state. According to Mr Gandhi, one in every eight voters on the rolls is a fake one; and he also produced some proof of multiple entries and fake names on them. Mr Gandhi alleges that the chief election commissioner and the two election commissioners colluded with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP to steal the Haryana election for the saffron party.
The EC’s response to him, however, fails to inspire confidence. Instead of addressing or refuting the allegations, which contain specific suspicious instances, the poll panel tried to question the bona fides of the leader of the Opposition. Its officials conveyed to the media that no appeal was filed against the electoral rolls in Haryana, nor was any multiple voting flagged when it happened.
However, the EC which claimed the high moral ground when questioned about the SIR cannot dismiss the charges this time with one-liners. It must come out in the open and make its position clear on this account. The panel was breathing fire and brimstone the last time Mr Gandhi raised allegations of vote theft in the Maharashtra and Karnataka Assembly elections. It even threatened to sue the Opposition leader unless he submitted proof of his allegations under oath. Mr Gandhi refused to comply with the order and the poll panel conveniently swept the entire episode under the rug.
But it is not the first time that the high constitutional body came under the scanner for partisan conduct. In fact, it has repeatedly chosen to look the other way whenever leaders of the ruling party broke every rule, and especially when they openly used religious symbols to campaign while coming down hard on Opposition leaders for the same actions. The latest instance of such ‘leniency’ took place when the Prime Minister openly appealed to the religious sentiments of the electorate during the first phase of polling in Bihar.
The EC is one of the key custodians of India’s democracy. It must act as per the law as well as per convention, and answer the questions put before it. Because it must not only act but also be seen acting in a just manner. And so the EC must make the effort to refute the allegations of vote theft or else order a thorough investigation. Attempts to dodge them won’t work this time around.
