EC should be like Caesar’s wife

Poll body needs to be transparent and accommodative; its arrogance raises suspicion

Alok Tiwari

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has stirred the hornet’s nest by revealing irregularities in voters’ list of Karnataka’s Mahadevapura constituency. He alleged a theft of over one lakh votes through duplicate and fake entries. Using the data supplied by the Election Commission (EC) of India, he showed multiple listing of same name at different booths. Also, dozens of people living at same address that later was revealed to be of a BJP worker. In many cases, proper addresses or name of parent was missing or some gibberish was entered.

The revelations came on the back of widespread discontent over the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. EC was under fire for asking for specified documents from voters to support their application for entry instead of relying on word of head of the household as was the case in earlier SIRs. It was feared that a lot of people would be unable to produce the documents and will be excluded. News media reported large-scale irregularities in this exercise too with booth level officers themselves signing the forms on behalf of voters. Many of them were submitted without documents and voters did not received acknowledgements.

The publication of draft rolls on August 1 confirmed those fears and showed deletion of some 65 lakh voters from the voters’ list that was used in 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The matter is already before the Supreme Court. These revelations have put the EC firmly in the dock about its practices and intentions. Given that it is central institution to ensure integrity of the electoral process, any doubts over its functioning puts the question mark on Indian democracy itself. If the election process is flawed, if not downright crooked, then what is the legitimacy of the governments that are formed through it? EC thus is even more important than the supreme court.

Unfortunately, the actions of EC right since the beginnings have not inspired confidence. It has tended to hide behind technicalities when it was expected to be forthcoming. It has been petulant when it ought to be reasonable. It is trying to hide when it needs to be transparent. It has chosen not to respond at all on the reports of improperly filled forms during Bihar SIR. It has told the SC, no less, that it is under no legal obligation to reveal the details of 65 lakh voters whose names have been deleted or the basis of the deletion. The country is expected to simply accept when EC says those voters have either permanently migrated or are dead. How do it know that? Total silence.

Just days ago, it replaced the draft voters’ list of Bihar published on its website in machine readable format with scanned copies making it difficult, if not impossible, for anyone to feed it into a computer and look for irregularities like those found in Mahadevapura. Doing it manually is near impossible. What was the need for this unless it is hiding something? An honest institution will make it easier for anyone to go through data with a fine-tooth comb so errors, if any, can be corrected.

On Mahadevapura revelations, EC has asked Rahul Gandhi to make a complaint on oath when allegations are based on its own documents. It would be funny if it were not so dangerous. EC did not wait for a signed affidavit when it issued notice to Bihar’s Tejashwi Yadav on his claim of his name being dropped from the voters’ list. It did same Bihar Dy CM Vijay Sinha too on his name appearing twice in different constituencies. It did not ask for statement on oath in these cases because it was right. Asking for it on Mahadevapura indicates it knows of the rot within. If it's so concerned that all information being given to public is true, then it should also issue its own documents and information under oath so it can be sued for perjury over slightest inaccuracy.

Clearly EC has been trying to obfuscate and hide and brazening it out when caught. The fact that leaders and spokespersons of BJP have jumped to its defence only makes its case worse. What is the link between the two? The party’s action point to a nexus that is truly unfortunate if it exists.

This is not the first time EC’s impartiality is being questioned. But earlier, they were just allegations or interpretation of its actions. Narendra Modi, then Gujarat CM, had called the J M Lyngdoh-led EC’s impartiality into question by making a vile reference to his religion when EC was delaying state polls in 2002. Opposition even now alleges EC helps the ruling party with timing and phasing of elections in different states. This is the first time, though, its actions are being scrutinized using its own hard data, and the institution is clearly found wanting. Its subsequent behaviour is more like a child caught with hand in the cookie jar than a respectable authority in world’s largest democracy.

EC needs to be like the Caesar’s wife, above suspicion. The cleansing should start with appointment of election commissioners themselves. It should be in a non-partisan manner as suggested by the SC. Saying that earlier governments also got to appoint their own ECs does not cut it. It was wrong then and it is wrong now. We are an evolving society and should seek to continuously improve, not hang on to bad examples from the past.

Rules may allow EC not to reveal more data as it is claiming but, surely, they do not prohibit it from doing so. It may exclude non-citizens from the rolls but only if it has adequate grounds to suspect citizenship. It cannot mass delete names based on an opaque and dubiously conducted exercise. It needs to work for Indian democracy, not for one party or government.

This column appeared in Lokmat Times on Aug 14, 2025