The Election Commission's response so far to the serious allegation of 'vote rigging' levelled against the Commission by the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, for the first time in the history of independent India, with full responsibility and evidence, has only served to strengthen doubts. The Commission has directed Rahul Gandhi to give an affidavit of what he said and this after he presented a detailed account of the Commission's own records and data, which took six months to prepare, to the nation through a press conference, The Commission is not ready to say that Rahul's statement is wrong or to explain it. The allegations are not trivial enough to be answered with unnecessary arguments. Since the Commission did not provide the voter list in electronic form, it had to examine mountains of printed pages. Therefore, most of the inspection could be carried out only in the Mahadevapura assembly constituency in the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka. Rahul also points out that the undeniable irregularities found in it are likely to have taken place in many other constituencies and in the Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections. Rahul also suggests that even Narendra Modi becoming the Prime Minister in 2023 may have been due to vote rigging. Out of the six and a half lakh votes in the Mahadevapura constituency, more than one lakh are fake. The voter list was inflated through various manipulations such as fake names, fake addresses, and fake photos. The BJP candidate won in Mahadevapura through manipulations. If examined, such criminal corruption will be exposed in many other constituencies too.
Rahul is demanding that the documents be in digital form. The Election Commission's response to this demand so far has been silence. Not only are the allegations based on the official documents of the Election Commission, but they are not isolated complaints that have suddenly arisen like a sudden brainwave. For some time now, the Commission has not responded transparently and honestly to any of the serious complaints raised on various issues such as the voter list, the fixing of polling dates, the voting machines, the VVPAT documents, the CCTV footage, and the reluctance to publish the polling figures. In Maharashtra, where the BJP had an unexpected and unexplained victory in the assembly elections, more voters were added to the list in five months than in five years. No clear action was taken on the complaint in this regard either. When the booth-level figures of those who voted in the Lok Sabha elections were requested to be made public as recorded in Part 1 of Form 17-C, the Election Commission violated transparency by saying that it was not legally obligated to do so. In the past, whenever complaints about irregularities were raised, the Commission of the day used to investigate them with due seriousness and find solutions. Now, allegations have been made that the Commission itself is colluding like never before. What does the Commission have to hide when it got the government to rewrite the law in order to avoiding providing booth-level CCTV footage to the citizens when the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered it?
The Constitution has envisaged the Election Commission as an autonomous body independent of government control. However, the Narendra Modi government has destroyed its independent character. The law such provisions earlier that the government could not make its favourites or proxies Commissioners. But the Modi government changed the law even against the spirit of what the Supreme Court had determined. It is such a Commission that got the rules changed to hide CCTV footage, bypassing the Punjab and Haryana court order. It is such a Commission that decided to destroy CCTV footage quickly. When the Congress asked for the voter list, it was given it on paper. This is causing difficulties not only for the parties. How much effort and expense must the Commission itself have taken to print so much? What is the purpose behind the CommiCsion deciding to go to so much trouble to dodge an inspection? There is only one way to bring transparency to matters - and that is the Supreme Court's intervention. The huge corruption of electoral bonds was eliminated through the court's intervention. Now, when there are indications from the Commission's records that there was significant fraud in the elections, the Supreme Court is conducting a suo motu investigation to save the country, the Constitution and democracy. The judiciary not only has the power and right but also the obligation to do so.