The controversy regarding elections, which was initially triggered by the disgruntled I.N.D.I. Alliance unable to come to terms with its humiliating defeats in repeated elections and blaming EVMs, has once again taken center stage. However, it is now entering a fresh chapter, while still echoing the same old rhetoric of election manipulation, this time it is labeled as “stolen elections.”
This is a quintessential case of rebranding an obsolete product in a new format to trick the populace. However, as predicted and similar to before, the Election Commission is their target just because people aren’t voting for them.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) was accused of “criminal fraud” by Rahul Gandhi in the recent attack. He alleged that more than 1 lakh bogus votes were cast in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment of the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency to guarantee the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) victory in the general election of 2024.
Rahul Gandhi specified five distinct methods of “vote chori” including the use of Form 6 improperly, duplicate voters, bulk votes at a single address, phoney and incorrect addresses as well as invalid pictures.
“The Congress won all the Vidhan Sabha (six out of seven) except Mahadevapura, where the BJP swept and secured a victory margin of 1,14,046 votes. This seat significantly contributed to their election win and the Lok Sabha result went in their favour on that seat,” the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
The remark explicitly demonstrated his irritation with yet another loss in the general election which the Congress leaders celebrated as an exceptional victory with 99 seats. However, it seemed that the party eventually realized that it was indeed a failure, culminating in the current frustration.
The Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) treated the accusations with gravity and requested that he submit his evidence under oath. “I am a politician, what I say to the people is my word. I am saying it to the people publicly, take it as an oath. Interestingly, they haven’t denied the information,” the Rae Bareli MP responded conveniently.
This serves as a prime illustration of political hit-and-run tactics aced by the opposition where they make critical allegations without accepting any accountability or presenting proof. The same was evident in the Pegasus affair, the Rafale deal and various other instances where the even Supreme Court had to reprimand Rahul Gandhi for disseminating lies.
“Using words like vote chori to mislead people is a disrespect to the Constitution,” the Election Commission also lashed out at the opposition. A period of 45 days following the elections is allocated for candidates to challenge any election results in the Supreme Court. Nevertheless, no such matters were brought up at that time.
“It is an insult to the Indian Constitution if election petitions are not filed within 45 days but allegations of vote chori are raised,” the Election Commission emphasised. It added, “During that period, no candidate or political party finds any irregularity, then today, after so many days, the voters and people of the country understand the intention behind making such baseless allegations.”
“The machine-readable voter list is prohibited. This decision of the Election Commission is after the judgment of the Supreme Court and is from 2019,” it replied after Congress alleged that the Election Commission gave electoral rolls in formats intended to evade examination, such as digital files that were locked as non-machine-readable PDFs and reams of printed paper piled “seven feet high.”
Opposition hits out at SIR drive, wants to bring impeachment motion against CEC
The opposition is reportedly contemplating about filing an impeachment motion against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar amid the growing hostility between the Election Commission and the opposition. Leading the assault, Rahul Gandhi charged that the Election Commission conspired with the BJP to steal elections in the entire country and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive in Bihar is the “latest conspiracy” to replicate the same.
He launched a 16-day 1300 kilometre “Voter Adhikar Yatra” (right to vote march) from Sasaram with his Mahagathbandhan partner and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav and argued that he was directed to provide an affidavit following his “vote chori” charges, however, no similar demand was issued to BJP leaders after their presser.
“In the whole country, assembly and Lok Sabha elections are being stolen and their latest conspiracy is to delete and add voters through SIR to steal the elections in Bihar. We have come here to tell you that we will not let them steal the election in Bihar. People of Bihar will not let them steal elections. The poor only have the power of vote and we will not let them steal polls,” he insisted.
“The entire country knows what the election commission is doing. Earlier, the country did not know how votes were being stolen. But we made it clear in the press conference how votes are being stolen,” the Gandhi scion stressed. He added, “Wherever this theft is happening, be it Bihar, Maharashtra, Assam, West Bengal, we will catch their theft and put it before the people.”
Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the Congress accused the Election Commission of serving as a “agent” of the “dangerous” Modi government at the centre which he described as a “threat” to the Constitution and the right of the people to vote, at the yatra’s launch. “Modi government decided to have a union minister in the selection committee for the Election Commission, ignoring the Supreme Court’s advice that the Chief Justice of India be included,” he added.
The apex court pronounced that Election Commissioners is going to be appointed on the advice of the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition and the Chief Justice of India, in 2023. However, it highlighted that the order would only hold merit “until a law is made by Parliament.” Notably, Kharge disregarded to mention the fundamental part of the judgment.
Likewise, Rahul Gandhi has initiated an offensive against the SIR program which is genuinely aimed at curbing fake voters and exclusively facilitate voting for legitimate citizens, strengthening the democractic exercise. Ironically, he has taken issue with the Elections Commission, which is proactively working to address the voter fraud concerns he repeatedly articulated.
More importantly, the matter was not only brought to attention by the constitutional body but also research papers from the distinguished IIM institutes which have pointed out that Bihar and West Bengal are rife with a significant number of fraudulent voters. The campaign also showcased the presence of illegal foreign nationals including Bangladeshis with Indian documents like Aadhar Card.
The claims of “disenfranchisement” and “voter fraud” by the Mahagathbandhan alongside threats to boycott elections were also dismissed by the Supreme Court. It stated that the Aadhaar Card is not definitive evidence of citizenship and backed the Election Commission. The latter’s authority to add or remove citizens and non-citizens from the voter list was also recognised by the highest court.
“But something will be needed to see whether they are resident or not,” the bench conveyed, refuting the assertions of the petitioners as a “sweeping argument.” It added, “There are family registers, pension cards, etc, a very sweeping argument to say that people do not have these documents.”
Notably, the members of all political parties have been an integral part of the SIR drive at all stages. The Booth Level Agents (BLAs) have exhibited their complete trust in the transparency of the entire process and no official complaint has been submitted by any political party to the Election Commission regarding the campaign.
Nevertheless, the rhetoric has only been intensified ignoring the ground realities as most of the fraudulent voters were supporters of the Congress-led coalition, in an attempt to provoke the general public.
Old playbook at work again
The Congress-led bloc’s penchant for ludicrous accusations concerning EVMs is neither new nor novel. This is a strategy that has been proven ineffective on several occasions in the past but it continues to be employed repeatedly in the hope that the Indian populace will accept their preposterous statements and rally behind them.
Casting doubts on the electoral process began with the attacking the EVMs not only during the Lok Sabha elections but also during state assembly elections. The victory of the BJP in the state assembly elections last year led to a renewed wave of allegations from Congress and ecosystem. Notably, in a manner reminiscent of past events, the controversy only arose when the BJP won.
For example, the reliability of the EVMs came under scrutiny in Haryana and Maharashtra assembly polls but not in Jharkhand or Jammu and Kashmir, where Congress partners Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Jammu & Kashmir National Conference were successful, respectively. This striking selectivity renders the truth behind the claims and the intentions rather apparent.
The grand old party’s stalwarts Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera declared that the BJP triumphed in EVMs with a battery charge of 99% while the Congress did in those with a charge of 60% to 70%, following Haryana assembly elections.
The outrageous remarks were soon rebuffed by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar who affirmed, “The public answers the questions by participating in the voting. As far as EVMs are concerned, they are 100% secure and foolproof.” The body underlined that even though EVMs are pre-installed with fully charged batteries, the charge level decreases as they are used for counting, mock polls and actual voting.
The assertions made by a suspended police officer were similarly magnified by the Congress ecosystem regarding EVM tampering in Maharashtra assembly polls which were promptly countered by the Election Commission. A man named Syed Shuja also announced that he could rig the results in 281 of the 288 seats in the state.
He added that EVMs could be managed by “frequency isolation.” Notably, electronic voting machines are incapable of wireless communication. Additionally, Syed claimed that he could pre-program EVMs to favour a particular political party and operate the voting machines using “specific apps” for Rs 52-53 crores.
The Congress ecosystem latched onto the video as the one and only truth and designated it as “empirical evidence.” However, the Election Commission had disproved the falsehood in 2019. The Delhi Police were even instructed by the nodal election body to file a complaint against him for spreading conspiracy theories and eroding faith of the voters in the voting equipment.
Syed Shuja initially gained notoriety in January 2019 after contending that the 2014 elections had been “rigged” to ensure BJP’s vitory. If his statement contained even a semblance of truth, it would imply that the United Progressive Alliance, headed by the Congress, was so inept that an opposition party managed to manipulate the elections while those in authority remained passive spectators.
He added that the EVMs were vulnerable to hacking during a Skype press conference in London. The scammer made a number of preposterous allegations on “rigged elections” in India. He even suggested that Gopinath Munde was killed as a result of finding out about the EVM tampering. Kapil Sibal also participated in the event, however, the party later tried to distance itself from the same.
“The charges made are very serious. I cannot vouch for them or deny them, as they have not been investigated. But they certainly need investigation. These should be looked into with an open mind by the Election Commission,” Abhishek Manu Singhvi had stressed attributing credibility to the claims.
He added that to reassure the nation about the reliability of electronic voting machines, the Congress and other parties demand a system in place to verify 50% of voter verifiable paper audit trails (VVPAT).
Congress and its allies consistently overlook an essential feature of Indian elections: since EVMs are constantly monitored by security forces and agents of the candidates, tampering with them is impossible. The EVMs are stored in secure rooms, where candidates and their designated representatives are permitted to watch over them around-the-clock until the day of the result.
The agents have access to live CCTV footage from within the strong room while they remain in a camp outside of it. Any dubious movement could lead to an alarm and provoke complaints. However, no such official complaints have been mabe by any candidate of the opposition.
Lies fall flat after Election Commission’s challenge, observations of courts
Various courts across the nation have rejected the allegations that EVMs could be compromised. Madras High Court, the Kerala High Court, the Karnataka High Court, the Bombay High Court, the Uttarakhand High Court and the Supreme Court, all of which have considered petitions on this subject and upheld the integrity of the EVMs.
“Prima facie, it is evident from a combined reading of the entire press release of ECI that this system is safe. The EVMs are not hackable. There cannot be any manipulation at the manufacturing stage. The results cannot be altered by activating a Trojan Horse through a sequence of key presses. The ECI-EVMs cannot be physically tampered with,” the Uttarakhand High Court highlighted.
The Bombay High Court stated, “The Bombay High Court ordered a detailed forensic examination of the EVMs from Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) Hyderabad for checking any manipulation etc. The CFSL report clearly ruled out any tampering, alteration or manipulation in the EVMs. The said report was accepted by high court and the petition was dismissed.”
The Karnataka High Court conveyed, “This invention (EVMs) is undoubtedly a great achievement in the electronic and computer technology and a national pride.”
A petition requesting 100% matching between the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) and the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during the vote-counting on 23rd May 2019, was termed as “nonsense” and junked by the Supreme Court. “We won’t entertain such a plea over and over again. Can’t come in the way of people electing their representatives. Let country elect its government,” it pronounced.
The Election Commission, in 2017, had already challenged all parties, especially the Opposition, to hack the EVM amid repeated accusations by Congress, Left and the Aam Aadmi Party of rigging to benefit the saffron party. Nevertheless, in spite of the intense reactions regarding the alleged tampering, no political parties, scientists or technical experts stepped forward to substantiate their claims, even when given a prime opportunity.
Conclusion
The issue is straightforward and clear-cut. It is not about EVMs or anything else but power. Congress never imagined that Chief Minister Narendra Modi would become the prime minister and the BJP would govern the country not merely for five years but for 15 or maybe more.
“I promise you in 21st Century Narendra Modi will never become the Prime Minister of the country. But if he wants to distribute tea here, we will find a place for him,” Mani Shankar Iyer’s derogatory remarks during an All India Congress Committee (AICC) event exposed their bigoted mindset and overconfidence.
This comment later returned to haunt the party dramatically and now they fear that they might have to remain in opposition for the unforeseeable future. As a result, conspiracy theories have been circulated and every nonsensical claim is projected as truth in an effort to bring down the government by any means possible.
The attack on EVMs, the election commission and the SIR is a continuation of this. Congress has an entitled mentality, convinced that it is the only party fit to rule India, and that democracy functions properly only when they are in control. Once they are removed from power, they begin to point fingers at everything, from the Election Commission to the judiciary.
It is also evident from the facts that such issues are only raised when the BJP succeeds and not otherwise. If Congress or the opposition were truly earnest then their concerns would not be restricted solely to the victory of their rival. The dismissal of their claims by the courts coupled with their failure to respond to the challenge from the Election Commission to support their allegations, indicates the same.
It is nothing but noise without any real substance or proof for the last decade and the opposition thinks that the people of this country will somehow be persuaded by it and stand with them.