Reconciling the questions about voter-roll integrity

As astart, ECI can be more upfront and cooperative in sharing information about the electoral rolls

- Roshan Kishore

The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, made serious allegations about the integrity of elections and electoral rolls in the country on Thursday.

The Congress has alleged that some prima facie credible discrepancies in electoral rolls in a single assembly segment (Mahadev-pura) made a critical difference to overall results in the Lok Sabha constituency of Bangalore Central, which was won by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 polls.

He also charged the Election Commission of India (ECI) — one of the most critical constitutional institutions which safeguards the sanctity of democratic competition and hence peaceful transfer of power — of colluding with the ruling dispensation. What is one to make of these allegations? Three things can be said.

This is neither the first nor the last allegation of electoral rigging in India via various forms. These allegations are more likely to be levelled against a hegemonic political party that is difficult to dislodge from power. The Left Front and the Trinamool Congress in preand post-2011 West Bengal, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s rule in Bihar in the 1990s — which brought the TN-Seshan-led ECT in direct conflict with the Bihar government — the BJP’s allegations of rigged EVMs after its defeat in the 2009 elections, and the Congress's string of allegations against the BJP in the post-2019 period are some such instances. In many cases, the parties accused of such rigging eventually lost power, which suggests that even if there were irregularities, it was never strong enough to permanently subvert democratic sentiments.