It is true that a large section of the voters subscribe to the idea that there is something wrong with the EVM
India is heading towards an electoral crisis. And if this crisis is not dealt with in time then India’s election process will lose its legitimacy and consequently, India’s democracy will be in peril. This question has become serious after the Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana. These are the two states where the INDIA alliance was expected to win easily, but the results have stunned members of the Opposition and civil society. Even political pundits and pollsters are astounded and shocked. Now, the Congress party officially has decided to raise the issue of alleged manipulations in electoral process.
The party and its alliance partners in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) were dismayed with the margin of victory for Mahayuti and the success rate of the BJP in particular. Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, in fact, within two hours of counting had questioned the veracity of the results and hinted that there was something wrong with the EVMs. Congress leaders also joined the chorus and alleged that the EVMs have been manipulated or hacked, though no evidence was offered. Social media has witnessed a few visuals in which members of a village in Maharashtra were protesting that though the village was a supporter of the Congress, the results did not reflect that. Now Sharad Pawar has also said that democracy is being undermined by the electoral process.
Similar sentiments were expressed after the Haryana assembly elections. This was the election in which everyone — including BJP leaders of the state — had predicted a huge victory for the Congress, but results were totally contradictory. The BJP leaders who were demoralised in the morning of the counting day could not believe their eyes when by 10am trends projected a big win for the party. Privately, many leaders and political analysts confessed to the author that there was something wrong, but no one had proof.
This is not a good situation for the country to be in. Questioning the legitimacy of the EVM is very old. BJP stalwart L K Advani had raised serious questions about the EVM just after the defeat of the BJP in the 2009 general elections. He not only held a press conference but also wrote an introduction when his party colleague J V L Narasimha wrote a book about the efficacy of the EVM. It was a BJP MP, Subramaniam Swamy, who took the EVM issue to Supreme Court and consequently the Supreme Court had ordered that VVPAT should be used along with the EVM to annul any doubt about the functioning of the machine.
It is also a fact that there are a few elections whose results are difficult to comprehend. When, soon after demonetisation, more than a hundred citizens died standing in queues to get their money from the banks and ATMs to run their households and the whole country had to face untold misery due to withdrawal of 85 per cent currency from the daily circulation, the BJP won 312 seats in the UP assembly election in 2017. The scale of the BJP’s victory in UP was unprecedented and many political pundits were astounded by its success. For them the victory defied logic. Similarly after the MP and Chhattisgarh elections in December 2023, in which BJP won with a massive margin when there was almost a consensus that the BJP would lose both the states, there was disbelief and questions were raised whether the EVMs were manipulated to ensure a BJP victory. The BJP and the Election Commission rubbished these charges. It is also true that except for anecdotal experiences no concrete proof was ever offered to prove that EVMs had been manipulated.
But it is also true that a large section of the voters subscribe to the idea that there is something wrong with the EVM. During the parliamentary elections CSDS asked voters a question if the ruling party can manipulate EVM to win elections, and the results are for everyone to see — 17% said that EVM can be manipulated, 28% were of the opinion that EVM can be manipulated upto a certain extent whereas 11% responded that not much can be done. Only, 16% were convinced that EVM can’t be manipulated. Data shows that approximately 56% respondents had doubts about the integrity of the electronic voting machines. Their accusations and allegations were never answered with alacrity by the EC.
The EC’s conduct is alarming. It seems that for the EC, the Opposition has no role to play in a democracy. For the EC the opposition is not a stakeholder at all, and only the ruling party that is the BJP is a legitimate player in the elections. The Opposition has been aghast to see that EC made no effort to stop the brazen communal campaign in the Parliamentary elections. The prime minister openly called Muslims ‘infiltrators’ but the EC maintained a royal silence. In one of the most bizarre steps, for the first time in India’s electoral history, the EC did not issue notice to the offenders, that is the prime minister and Rahul Gandhi but to the presidents of respective parties that is the BJP and the Congress.
The EC is there to provide a level playing field to all the contestants and parties. The EC in the last few years has brazenly sided with the government. It entertains no complaints against the opposition parties and answers no questions. In Parliamentary elections and later in Assembly elections serious anomalies have been witnessed between the votes polled and votes counted, but EC did not make any effort to explain the reason. That is why today the EC’s credibility and integrity is being questioned and it is being said that the umpire who is expected to play fair is playing on behalf of the ruling party.
-- FPJ
