2024 Lok Sabha polls: Why there is a growing murmur against electoral malpractices

As India hurtles towards another general election result, the presumed victory of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP amid widespread claims of alleged electoral malpractices has led many to believe that the ongoing polls are “not free and fair”. Neither would be the counting, warn activists at the risk of sounding alarmist.

The events that have unfolded during the ongoing seven-phase elections and a seemingly indolent Election Commission (EC) have further fuelled such fears, claims a coalition of 120 civil society groups which have come together under the banner of ‘Voters’ Will Must Prevail’.

Vowing not to let anyone steal the people’s mandate, they held an elaborate discussion on May 21 in Bengaluru on the concerns raised over the “possible manipulation” of votes during counting.

Tara Rao, an activist and a member of the collective, says the apprehensions are based on “evidence” as the EC “hesitated for long” to make public the figures of the absolute number of electors who cast their votes and treated the ruling party with “kid gloves despite its leaders, including the Prime Minister, repeatedly violating the model code of conduct (MCC)”, among other issues.

The ruling party and its spokespersons have vehemently denied the charges.

Shazia Ilmi, national spokesperson of the BJP, tells The Federal that the civil society groups should stop being “propagandists of the Opposition”. “All the allegations raised against the BJP and its leaders are baseless. As a BJP spokesperson, I can’t speak on behalf of the EC. It is an independent body. I can only say that it is doing its duty with utmost honesty and sincerity,” adds Ilmi.

Surabhi Hodigere, Karnataka BJP spokesperson, counters Rao’s allegations saying that civil society groups like Wake Up Karnataka (which is also a part of the collective that met in Bengaluru) despite claiming its neutrality supported a particular political party and its leaders during the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections.

“One can’t claim its neutrality if it prefers one party over another which is apparent in its social media feeds. Are they speaking for voters or a particular political party?” says Hodigere. She, however, refrained from naming the political party she accused the citizens-led groups of providing their support to.

With the voters, as voters

Rao says the campaign consists of independent civil society groups and grassroots movements. “We don’t have to prove our credentials. We have a history of functioning independently without any political backing. Our point is not about one party or the other. We are voicing our concerns to defend and preserve India's democracy and constitution. Whenever we have gone on the ground for campaigning, we have never been mistaken for any political party. We are on the side of the voters as voters,” she adds.

The campaign, the members say, took shape as the atmosphere in which the ongoing election has progressed is a worrying development for any voter and citizen of this country.

Listing out the problematic developments, the members say that it all started with the appointment of two new election commissioners on March 14, two days before the poll body was scheduled to announce the dates for the 18th General Elections.

The two ECs were appointed following vacancies arising in the commission by the sudden resignation of EC Arun Goel on March 9 and the retirement of EC Anup Chandra Pandey on February 15.

The appointment of the two ECs came under criticism as this was the first time that ECs were being appointed in accordance with the new Chief Election Commissioner and other Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 brought in by the government in December last year.

According to the new law, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) was removed from the three-member panel to select the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners. Instead of the CJI, the panel now consists of a Cabinet Minister besides the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and the Prime Minister. Thus, giving the executive a two-one majority in the three-member committee.

According to activist Teesta Setalvad, the appointment procedure and the role of the ruling BJP government in it brings to question the intrinsic autonomy of the present EC compared to past ECs, given that it is a statutory constitutional body. “It is not that there was no problem in the past with the commission. However, if we look back, in the last 74 years since it was founded, the EC enjoyed a fair amount of autonomy and independence,” she tells The Federal.

“Now, comes the present commission’s conduct in monitoring the violations of the MCC. It was said that the EC would carefully monitor leaders’ speeches and not let religion be a part of the campaign. But what has been the commission’s record in taking action against venom and hate generated by the BJP?” says Setalvad.

But why would any party that claims to be coming back to power more than comfortably indulge in manipulation if they are so sure of winning?

The catch lies there, says activist Ashok Maridas. “While every party claims to be winning, it’s only the voters who decide whom to choose. In the absence of the Modi wave this time and the increased support for the Opposition, the BJP is nervous. The low voter turnout and a palpable sense of resentment against BJP parliamentarians on the ground when they have been chased away multiple times while campaigning made them really jittery.”

This is the same nervousness, Maridas adds, that has made BJP’s star campaigners, including Prime Minister Modi, resort to extreme communal rhetoric "debasing and stigmatising the Muslim community” in their bid to paint the Opposition as anti-nationals working against Hindus.

“Religious polarisation has been the biggest diversionary weapon of Modi’s BJP every time its influence seems waning and poll prospects look bleak,” says Rao.

Despite speeches that have been criticised as highly divisive, none of the BJP leaders, except new inductee and former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay, have been barred from campaigning for 48 hours by the commission which has been the norm earlier.

“But leaders from non-BJP parties like Bharat Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrashekar Rao and Congress leader Randeep Surjewala were punished by the poll body for violating the MCC,” says Maridas.

According to political economist Parakala Prabhakar, these instances have cast serious doubts about the impartiality of the EC. “We are not accusing the EC of anything. It, however, has to establish that our doubts were unfounded,” he said.

‘God-like Modi’ vs voters

It’s not just the speeches and narrative spun around a ‘God-like Modi’ (a theory propped by the PM’s own description of him as an emissary of God), but instances where some Opposition candidates have claimed they have withdrawn their nominations under pressure or their papers have been rejected arbitrarily that further heightened the fears.

“Be it the BJP’s uncontested victories in Surat and Indore or the allegations of police action against Muslim voters in some constituencies of Uttar Pradesh to deter them from voting, or the viral video of the person recording himself while allegedly casting votes for the BJP multiple times in a polling booth in Uttar Pradesh, there are a number of such instances which only deepen the suspicion,” says Prabhakar. But the biggest of them, he adds, is the EC’s reluctance to disclose absolute voter turnout based on Form 17C.

Need for absolute transparency

In 2019, the EC had released but later removed data on votes cast from its website due to alleged discrepancies between the initial number of votes cast and those counted. This time, the commission only released the total number of electors and turnout percentage after each phase of voting.

The civil society collective feels that the EC took a "very aggressive defensive stand" when the case demanding the release of absolute vote cast figures by the commission came up in the Supreme Court recently. Association for Democratic Reforms, an NGO, had filed an interim application in the apex court asking for scanned copies of Form 17C to be uploaded on the EC website as soon as polling concludes.

Even though the polling body released the “absolute number of voters for all completed phases” in a press note issued on May 25, within a day of the SC’s order which did not ask the EC to release it, the inordinate delay in publishing the data is being seen as a “gross unaccountability on the part of the poll body”.

For context, the figures only account for votes cast using EVMs, and do not include postal ballots, which will be counted on results day.

What initially also raised eyebrows is the difference between the final polling percentage and those released initially on the day of voting.

Aa analysis of turnout numbers put out by EC late night of the day of polling in each phase and the updated numbers showed a difference of nearly 1.07 crore votes over the first four phases of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Notably, it took the EC 11 days for phase 1, and four days each for the three subsequent phases, to publish the final numbers of voter turnout in percentages as opposed to absolute numbers.

In a statement, the EC said it has “noted a pattern of false narratives and mischievous design to vitiate the electoral process”.

“The EC’s stance that there is no legal binding to release the figures is factually incorrect. Moreover, it is not based on law and previous practice,” says Setalvad.

Those raising doubts say the commission should be forthcoming about the Form 17C. Form 17C is a piece of paper on which the total number of votes cast on the day of the polling is recorded by the presiding officer. A copy of Form 17C is handed over to the polling agents of candidates.

According to media reports, although the EC released the absolute turnout numbers, "it will not upload all copies of Form 17C for open viewing given that it is under no statutory obligation to do so”.

“The reluctance on the part of the commission to make data public and its seemingly favourable behaviour towards the ruling regime create doubts in the mind of voters about possible manipulation of votes on counting day,” said activist Maridas.

The EC should ideally clarify why so much time was being taken to finalise voter data when the data was in the system in real-time. “All information is available within minutes of the end of polling,” Maridas added.

In its defence, the commission in a press release said, “The total number of votes polled in a constituency, as recorded in Form 17C, can never be changed even by anyone’s hypothetical mischief, as it is available with all contesting candidates… Agents of candidates are always allowed to accompany EVM and statutory papers, including Form 17C, from polling station till storage in a strongroom as per Rule 49 V (2) of the Conduct of Election Rules 1961.”

Karnataka BJP spokesperson Hodigere says, “The commission has ruled out any doubts about the authenticity of the turnout data it maintains. Conducting elections in a huge country like ours is a tough job. Nonetheless, there should be criticism but it has to be constructive.”

What common voters say

But it is not just civil society bodies that have raised questions over the ongoing election process. Voters too have expressed their misgivings. Several voters have told The Federal that images of unprovoked lathicharge by police on voters waiting outside polling booths in some parts of Uttar Pradesh or the malfunctioning EVMs in Odisha’s Puri, as pointed out by BJP candidate from Puri Lok Sabha seat, Sambit Patra, are troubling episodes.

First-time voter Ritika Sahu, 18, from Odisha’s Cuttack, says she is yet to process the violence shown by Prashant Jagdev, BJP MLA and candidate from the Khordha assembly seat, who allegedly toppled an EVM and manhandled two polling personnel in the May 25 polling in the state, where the simultaneous four-phase election of Lok Sabha and Assembly polls are being conducted. “Although he has been arrested now, such incidents tend to shake people’s faith in the system,” she says.

Mysuru-based business consultant Bipin HD feels “it’s weird” that the names of hundreds of voters, including celebrities, from across the country went missing from the electoral list. The commission should have done prior verification to keep the names of the registered voters on the voting list, he says.

“It doesn’t necessarily need men wearing horned headdresses to launch an insurrection, like in the US in 2021, to overturn lawful results of elections. It can very well be done maintaining the trappings of democracy while increasingly altering the democratic process with new laws that ride roughshod over the Constitution and its basic ethos. So it’s on the civil society and the opposition to keep their eyes and ears open,” he adds.