The ready conclusion to be drawn from the 2026 round of state polls is that the Election Commission of India, the equivalent of sport’s neutral umpire and referee, was not always seen to be fair as it may have been in many such belligerent poll rounds in the past, including in the high-stakes poll for the Lok Sabha in 2024
The sigh of relief on the conclusion of the most contentious round of polling ever in recent times may have been audible right across the country. But it is in a fog of allegations, explanations and exculpations that the long weekend will pass before D-Day comes for the assumption that the will of the people will be fully reflected in the results.
The polls in West Bengal have been like none other though the other three states and the UT of Puducherry also went through the agony of intensive revision of the poll rolls. The desperation to hold on to power or to grab it has never been more accentuated than in the battles between Mamata Banerjee’s TMC and the national ruling party BJP.
The ready conclusion to be drawn from the 2026 round of state polls is that the Election Commission of India, the equivalent of sport’s neutral umpire and referee, was not always seen to be fair as it may have been in many such belligerent poll rounds in the past, including in the high-stakes poll for the Lok Sabha in 2024.
The exclusion of a large percentage of the voting population, the data from which showed that members of a particular community were discriminated against in pockets made this election round far more controversial.
Stray incidents of violence, attempts to prevent votes being cast in favour of a particular party, and even the inviolability of the normally well-secured EVMs paled in comparison to the major issue of the denial of the right to vote, which should be classified as a fundamental right provided qualifications are met. Intervention by the Supreme Court regarding SIR was febrile but never fully satisfactory as only a minuscule number of voters whose names were deleted got through the appeals process.
The dramatic scenes of accusations and denials over manipulation of normal voting procedures do not take away anything from the logistical challenges of so many millions polling in one state, numbers which could well represent the entire population of a Western democracy. And yet the long gap between polling and the counting for results’ declaration, which should be far quicker with EVMs, leads to a frustrating wait which lends itself nicely to conspiracy theories.
There is no need to get rabid over politics as is often seen to happen in West Bengal, but there is plenty of scope to get to the root of the problem, which is to ensure that the last eligible voter on the rolls is given a fair opportunity to have his say in a democracy, irrespective of religion. Maybe, it was the fear of losing the right to vote that dragged so many to the polling booths across the five states for there to be a record turnout, but within the confines of the SIR which had trimmed the electorate.
Going forward, it should be the ECI’s task to give every voter an opportunity to establish his credentials. That work should begin now, years ahead of actual polling, if elections are to be seen as conducted fairly. Also, political parties must participate in every aspect of revision of rolls, which must be done periodically to weed out the names of the deceased and those not normally resident or claim a right to vote in two places. Surely there must be less disputatious and more refined way to let the people vote and the EC to count those votes.
