Editorial: Our Ministry of Democracy

NEW DELHI: In an Orwellian world, in which the Ministry of Peace would administer war and only lies would be issued from the Ministry of Truth, the Election Commission of India (ECI) might be called the Ministry of Democracy. Over the last decade, the poll body has earned the reputation of being a partisan referee at best, or an undercover player for the winning side at worst. No wonder opinion surveys by reputed agencies have been reporting diminishing public trust in the ECI’s conduct of elections.

Prior to the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, a LokNiti-CSDS survey found a disquieting trend at both ends of the credibility scale. To the question, “to what extent do you trust the Election Commission,” respondents saying “not at all” doubled (to 9%) since a similar survey was done in 2019. At the other end, people saying they trust ECI “to a great extent fell from 51% to 28%.

The commission’s response to this erosion of trust has been to prevaricate, obfuscate and stonewall. The same survey found that more than 40% of the people think that electronic voting machines (EVMs) can be manipulated, compared to less than 30% who think they cannot be. Such scepticism squares with a ton of reportage on suspicious transport and handling of the machines. But ECI has stuck fast to its singular line of defence, that EVMs cannot be manipulated because they are never connected to the internet, as if that were the only recourse possible to election cheats.

The doubts — and suggestions — from civil society, the Opposition, the courts and even former election commissioners are getting louder and louder, but ECI buries its head deeper into the sand. Lately, its responses have become increasingly truculent and distinctly Orwellian. Commissioners have now begun dismissing the naysayers as “elitist” virtue signalers who believe “whatever they think is the right thing.” A linguist would discern how closely such a defence accords with the language of the alt-right.

Consider, therefore, the lame excuse the commission is giving for its latest sleight of hand. With neither signal nor ceremony, it has amended rules such that video recordings and CCTV, and webcast footage of the voting process within a polling station can be destroyed after a mere 45 days if no litigation has been filed against the result. Previously, there was no specific timeline for this. It gave candidates and whistleblowers time to sift through the material for flaws in the conduct of voting. A poll referee truly interested in transparency would not shut that window.

In the face of a furore over this blatant facilitation of cover-ups, the commission says it was done to prevent misuse by non-contestants who make fake social media videos to spread misinformation.

This eagerness to protect India’s elections from photoshop warriors is charming, but ECI would be more credible if it addressed the genuine concerns of political parties and watchdog NGOs over its conduct of recent elections. These range from the magical disappearance of voters’ names from electoral rolls, an increase in twilight-hour voting, and the addition of millions of new voters in the Maharashtra Assembly election to questionable counting of votes, leading invariably to a BJP victory.

Until ECI seriously addresses these questions, its credibility will continue to erode and put it on the road to Orwellian infamy.