Election Commission's Credibility Crisis: Why India’s Democratic Future Depends On Institutional Reform

The Election Commission (EC) has done more damage to Indian democracy than any other institution in the country. Knowingly or unknowingly, the whole electoral process has come under the shadow of doubt. Now, there is serious apprehension in the minds of the people that elections are being manipulated to benefit the ruling party.

I don’t know how much is done deliberately, nor do I have any information, but its conduct as an institution needs more clarification and more honest answers. It is not surprising that in CSDS surveys, the credibility of the EC has consistently gone down, and the EC has not done anything to resurrect its image.

The present controversy about the special intensive review of the electoral list on the eve of the Bihar assembly election is a pointer to the fact that there is something seriously wrong with the institution and it needs radical reform.

It is common knowledge that Bihar elections will be announced within two months, what was then the need to go through such a widespread review of the electoral list? The last review, in 2003, had taken almost two years to complete. Now the EC wants to complete the same exercise in two months.

The whole exercise gets more complicated and raises serious suspicions about the motive of the exercise given the fact that these are the months when the monsoon hits the state and floods ravage a large part of Bihar. Bihar is the most backward state in the country, with very meagre resources and the poorest infrastructure in the country.

Against this background, it is next to impossible to carry out a foolproof review of the electoral lists. No wonder all the opposition parties in the state, such as the RJD and the Congress, and outside are accusing the EC of initiating the process to help the ruling party.

These parties are raising some valid questions: If a summary revision of the electoral list was finalised in the month of February this year for the same election, then why this exercise? They are asking whether the EC believes that the last parliament election was conducted on the wrong electoral list and whether the summary revision that was conducted a few months back was faulty and now needs to be corrected.

If so, then should the EC not tell the whole world on what basis it has reached this conclusion? Has there been any investigation? Has any report been made? There is a big silence on these issues.

I don’t think any party would be opposed to a special intensive review of the electoral list. The last one was done in 2003. But then, enough time was given for the exercise to be authentic. It was never a rush job, as it seems this time. 

What raises more doubts in the minds of the opposition leaders is that every citizen whose name was not on the 2003 electoral list has to prove their citizenship. And those born after 1987 have to provide the birth certificate of their parents, which is a humongous task, especially in a state like Bihar where the literacy rate is very low and the government structure is so fragile that it will be next to impossible to get these certificates in such a short time. It is ridiculous to even imagine that the abysmally poor and marginalised section of society, who are scared to visit a government office, will be able to get the required papers to prove their citizenship.

What has made this exercise more doubtful is that the Aadhar card, which is such an important identity proof in present-day India, will not be a valid document in this exercise. There is no explanation as to ‘why’. It is being speculated that since Aadhar cards can be faked easily, they cannot be an authentic document. By this logic, what is the guarantee that other documents can’t be faked? Can the EC speak on this?

The EC is suffering from an unprecedented legitimacy crisis. Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders have levelled accusations that the EC, instead of providing a level playing field and being a neutral umpire, has become a player on behalf of the BJP, and its independence is seriously compromised.

The Modi government has further complicated the matter. When the Supreme Court ruled that the selection panel of commissioners should include the CJI too, along with the PM and the Leader of the Opposition, the government replaced him with a cabinet minister. This creates a doubt that the government does not want an independent EC.

During the Maharashtra, Haryana and Delhi elections, when questions were raised about abnormally increased numbers of voters and the issue of manipulated electoral rolls, the EC did not offer any credible explanation. Rather, behaving like a political party, it blamed the Opposition.

It even refused to give the CCTV and video footage of polling booths as demanded by the Congress party, citing a technicality. The government, in fact, changed the rule. The EC also has decided not to keep video footage for more than 45 days; earlier, the duration was a year.

The 2024 Parliament election was the most communal election. Muslims were directly targeted, but no action was ever taken. Had the EC been vigilant, many leaders would have forfeited their voting rights, just as Balasaheb Thackeray had lost his voting rights due to communal campaigning.

The EC has to realise that governments are transitory and institutions are permanent. If the credibility of the institution is gone, then there is no future for the country. If suspicion grows that elections are being manipulated and that the EC is compromised, then the whole democratic process will become doubtful, and people’s belief in legitimate electoral wins will be lost. That will be the death of democracy.

The writer is Co-Founder, SatyaHindi.com, and author of Hindu Rashtra. He tweets at @ashutosh83B

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