Republic’s moment of truth

Illegalities in EC have rocked the very foundations of Indian democracy

Alok Tiwari

That the Election Commission (EC) of India has not remained the same in Modi government’s third term hardly needs retelling. The government, even in its previous innings, had sought to use it as a political tool. These were within limits of what can be called plausible deniability, until current chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar took charge. Before him the EC accommodated poll dates or split the phases in different states to suit the ruling party’s convenience. It allowed more leeway to it in adherence to model code of conduct than it did to opposition. There were complaints of voters being added or deleted in suspicious manner in pockets.

These were not unprecedented acts, just their scale became extraordinary after 2014. We still believed that even though the field may no longer be level, it was not unplayable. That has changed with Gyanesh Kumar. Things have become extreme and brazen. The SIR launched by him has been dubious from the start. It was carried out in state after state with same objective and same result—deletion of voters at an unprecedented scale. The deletions occurred disproportionately among groups that have traditionally voted against the BJP like minorities, Dalits, and tribals.

The exercise was repeatedly challenged in Supreme Court, and the court repeatedly endorsed it on the grounds that EC had the power to do what it was doing and law was being followed. A media report exposed last week that even that was not the case. It revealed that many of the key decisions were taken by keeping two of the three commissioners in the dark, making them ab initio null and void. Procedures and even laws were violated. A software controlled by none of the commissioners was having primacy over field officers. Lower officials were dictating work distribution of even commissioners. Appeals against inclusion of voters were being filed without any statutory approval. The basic form for inclusion in the list was unlawfully changed.

The CEC was running amok and a government that was duly informed of this by none other than two commissioners chose to look the other way. After the expose caused a political earthquake, the EC responded with two press releases. As is often the case when someone is caught with pants down, they either confirmed everything that was revealed in the reports or maintained a studied silence on it. The material exposed is already enough for the EC to be dissolved and SIR scrapped. EC has already been opaque about who authorised the SIR and how the new protocols were drawn up.

This is a crisis unprecedented in country’s history. Never has been the election process under a cloud as it is now, not even in the aftermath of Emergency. This is not about some minor procedure being ignored or a technicality not being followed. This is mass disenfranchisement that in several cases already has affected the outcome of elections. It has put a question mark on the legitimacy of the governments formed. Thirteen crore voters have already been excluded in a dubious, non-transparent, non-standard, unauthorised and most likely illegal manner. And this is intentional.

This shakes the very foundations of our polity. We may never have been a model democracy. There is none. But one thing has always been true in India: elections have reflected the popular will. That stamp of legitimacy is what makes citizens follow the laws. Take that away and you are opening the gate to anarchy. Why would anyone obey a government that itself may have come to power in an illegitimate manner?

It is also no longer a question of what Gyanesh Kumar did. The culpability goes much further back and much higher. Why was a law brought specifically to exempt the election commissioners from criminal liability, a protection not available to even PM or chief justice? Why was an SC ruling that provided for a balanced panel to select the CEC nullified? This proves a conspiracy. It shows a desire not to let go of control over EC and an anticipation of criminal acts by the commissioners. It involves political executive at the highest level. A legalized criminality has been foisted upon the nation to perpetuate power of one party or, worse, one person.

The facts in public domain are enough for the SC to take suo motu cognizance of. The court is also responsible for giving EC a long rope. While holding that EC had no right to determine citizenship, the court nevertheless allowed it to drop a person as a voter if it doubted their citizenship. This is akin to saying the police cannot determine the guilt of an accused but can still hang them. It is time for the top court to undo its error. It must restore the deleted names and the old procedure of electoral revision. It also needs to stand firm on the ruling to have ECs selected by neutral panel.

It is a moment of truth for all of us too. Our right to choose our government is being taken away. We are effectively subjects again. The injustice is upon us. Will we let the country slide to its doom, or will we rise to protect it? American lawyer Robert G Ingersoll wrote, “A government founded upon anything except liberty and justice cannot and ought not to stand. All the wrecks on either side of the stream of time, all the wrecks of the great cities, and all the nations that have passed away— are a warning that no nation founded upon injustice can stand. From the sand-enshrouded Egypt, from the marble wilderness of Athens, and from every fallen, crumbling stone of the once mighty Rome, comes as it were a wail, comes as it were the cry, ‘No nation founded upon injustice can permanently stand.”

Guess who had cited these stirring words. The Indian SC, back in the 60s. Will it, and us, hark back to that spirit, and save the Republic?

This column appeared in Lokmat Times on Oct 1, 2026