Recently, a leading national English daily published what it claimed to be an “investigative report” about the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI). The sum and substance of the much-talked-about “investigative report” was that two Election Commissioners had written some “dissenting” notes on certain matters. There is nothing more in that report. Nothing more, literally. Everything else that the “investigative report” carries is already in the public domain. The opposition parties, the Congress in particular, which has now been perennially seeking the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s head, latched on to the report, claiming that it was the vindication of what the party had been saying all along.
Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Rigged Elections’ Claim Under Question
Rahul Gandhi believes that all elections, particularly the 2024 General Elections and the subsequent state assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra, were rigged. He has the audacity to claim to have “proved” that these elections were rigged. He claims that the dissenting notes by two Election Commissioners, on some different issues, collaborate his charges that the elections have been “rigged”.
If Elections Were Rigged, Why Did BJP Lose 62 Seats?
It does not require a superlative IQ to make out whether the 2024 General Elections were really rigged. If these were really rigged, would the Bharatiya Janata Party fall from 302 to just 240 seats? Had the party lost just 20 more seats, it would have been sitting in the opposition. Anyone rigging the election would always ensure a secure majority. And would the BJP really lose Uttar Pradesh so badly and also the all-important constituency of Faizabad, in which Ayodhya falls, where the Prime Minister had inaugurated the much-awaited and much sought-after Ram Mandir just a few months ago?
Omar Abdullah Rejects Selective ‘Rigging’ Claims
The answer to this charge was given by the INDIA bloc ally and the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah. He said those alleging that elections were rigged cannot be selective; they keep silent when they win and start crying “rigging” when they lose. He cited the example of Jammu and Kashmir itself, saying if the BJP had intended to rig the elections, it could have done it easily and nobody could have been able to suspect, as the difference was of a few seats only.
From EVMs to ‘Electoral Manipulation’: Rahul Gandhi Escalates Attack
There are umpteen examples which strongly disprove that the elections can be rigged. No official on duty across India has ever agreed with the proposition that the Electronic Voting Machines (the EVMs) can be manipulated or fiddled with. However, realizing the weakness of the argument, Rahul Gandhi has shifted the gear from EVM manipulation to “electoral manipulation” and has now started directly attacking the Chief Election Commissioner personally. Not only has he and several other opposition leaders demanded his removal but also an FIR for “treason”!
File Photo of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar along with Election Commissioners Dr S S Sandhu and Dr Vivek Joshi. Pix Credit: ECI TwitterCongress Emulates BJP’s Grassroots Election Machinery
There is a deliberate design in all this. It is an acknowledged fact that the BJP has a powerful party infrastructure and a strong ‘election-fighting-machinery’ which works at the micro and grassroots level. The Congress not only knows it, but also acknowledges it. The Congress has literally taken a leaf from the BJP’s “election management book” by copying the idea of appointing “panna-pramukhs” (electoral roll page in-charge). The BJP works so minutely at the grassroots that it designates one dedicated person for “one page” each of the voting list and is called ‘panna-pramukh’. The Congress has also started doing it now.
Global Recognition of India’s Electoral Efficiency
Indian elections are globally recognized and acknowledged as most efficient, fair and transparent. Donald Trump recently referred to the efficiency of the Indian electoral system. Earlier, Elon Musk also referred to the efficiency and speed of the electoral process in India.
‘Rigged Elections’ Could Become Opposition’s Ready-Made Excuse
Since the entire opposition appears to have realized that it will be difficult to match the BJP’s might and election management skills and in case the BJP manages to win another General Election, they (the opposition parties) will have a ready-made excuse that the “elections were rigged”.
Open Elections, Yet No Global Challenge to Their Credibility
Elections in India are not held in closed chambers. The election process is open to the global media. Even the worst critics of the Modi regime in the international media have never ever questioned the fairness and transparency of the electoral process in India. They have accused the ruling BJP of polarizing people on religious lines but nobody has ever questioned the impartiality of the Election Commission of India.
Rahul Gandhi Seeks ‘Rigging’ Narrative to Explain Defeats
The opposition, Rahul Gandhi in particular, wants an excuse for the back-to-back defeats. He latches on to anything and everything, like the “dissenting notes” of two Election Commissioners as proof that elections are rigged in India. He is accusing the CEC of treason without explaining or substantiating his charges. But he is not doing any good to the country either, by maligning and undermining the credibility of an important constitutional institution, that is the Election Commission of India.
Congress’s Past CEC Links Raise Questions Over Its Current Attack
For his reference and reminder, it is the Congress party which appointed a former Chief Election Commissioner, Manohar Singh Gill a minister for five years. Another CEC, Navin Chawla, was considered to be an important member of Sonia Gandhi’s kitchen cabinet. His wife Rupika Chawla has been a longtime close friend of Sonia Gandhi.
Gyanesh Kumar does not have any such known links with the incumbent government like Gill or Chawla had.
(Views expressed are personal.)